


Some Things Never Leave You

by Gaiusan, Hammocker



Series: After All You've Done [3]
Category: Far Cry 3
Genre: Angst, Bathing/Washing, Comfort, Dubious Ethics, Explicit Language, Grief/Mourning, Hatred, M/M, Manipulation, Oral Sex, Past Rape/Non-con, Pole Dancing, Post-Game(s), Public Nudity, Rainforests, Rating May Change, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-09 12:17:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 44,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1982691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaiusan/pseuds/Gaiusan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hammocker/pseuds/Hammocker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just as Jason was about to escape the hell that Rook had become, an old nightmare resurfaces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Give Up, Jason

**Author's Note:**

> Well, no going back now. I had an idea, it's been re-worked numerous times, and now I finally have a first chapter to set things up. Let's all hope I'm not unbearably slow writing this story.

Jason was angry. No, Jason was furious. No, Jason was seething. No, no, Jason was _pissed._

One minute he was about to get off the island with all of his surviving friends and family, and the next, they're surrounded by what looked to be a group of Vaas' former underlings. Jason had been sure that he had wiped their kind off of Rook, but there they were, threatening his friends and pummeling him into unconsciousness. Just one more trial to go through. After Vaas, Hoyt, and even Citra of all people, just one more hurdle to jump over. He could do this. The first chance he got to fight back, he would, and he would make these bastards pay for wasting his time.

Right then, his hands were tied, a blindfold had been placed over his eyes, and he was being dragged along by, presumably, one of the pirates. He was groggy, but his mouth was not too dry, so he could not have been out for long. His friends had to be close still. He had to find them as quickly as possible.

Jason felt himself being hauled into a partial upright position before being dumped onto what felt like a wooden chair. As he tried to straighten himself, the blindfold was torn off of his face. The harsh glow of the fluorescent light above him forced Jason to wince and squint for a moment. Once he could see again, however, the pirate who had been dragging him was already out of the room, slamming the door behind himself.

Blinking the blur from his eyes, Jason swiveled his head slowly as he took in his surroundings. The room around him reminded Jason of the many safe-houses he had been inside of, but stripped of the usual furnishings. All this room had was a single table, and two chairs on opposite ends of it, one of which Jason was sitting at. An interrogation room, Jason concluded. Either the pirates were using the room for makeshift solitary confinement, or they were going to try to pry information out of Jason. He could handle either, but what he really needed was to get loose. Jason began to tug at the ropes holding his hands together, trying to loosen their grip.

Jason stilled and look up at the door as it opened once more. Some bronze-skinned pirate in a red tank top was backing into the room. Probably just another nobody, but he seemed familiar. Then again, Jason could barely tell one pirate from another. As the man closed the door and turned to face him, though, Jason's heart skipped a beat and the color drained from his face.

“Long time no see, eh, Jason?” Vaas greeted him, sauntering towards the table, like he was not some kind of ghost.

“No,” Jason breathed.

The fucker lived. Jason knew that he was dead. He remembered sinking to the floor with Vaas, feeling the life drain from Vaas, and-

“Nonono, this isn't happening,” Jason reiterated, shaking his head.

“Sure, it is, hermano,” Vaas said as he reached out to tousle Jason's hair. “You seriously thought I was done with you?”

Something inside of Jason exploded.

“No! Fuck you! I'll send you back to hell before I play this fucking game again! I killed you once, I'll kill you again! You should be-!”

A hand grasped Jason's jowls, forcing silence on him.

“Dead?” Vaas finished. “Fuck, yeah. I should have been a long time ago. But seriously, man, calm the fuck down,” he requested, taking his hand off of Jason's jaw.

“Calm down?! Calm down?! What the fuck am I supposed to do when you come back from the dead, and kidnap me and all my goddamn friends again!? I sure as hell-”

Once more, that same hand came down, and forced Jason's jaw shut.

“Jason,” Vaas said, restraining his tone. “Shut. The fuck. Up.”

Jason's breathing had gone completely haywire, his heartbeat was out of control, his body would not stop quaking and he knew his face was bright red.

“I'm going to talk, and you are going to listen this time. You're gonna keep what I say in that thick skull of yours, if I have to beat it in with a fucking hammer. You understand?”

Jason stared up at Vaas, looking directly into his eyes, and trying to control his own shivering.

“Good,” Vaas said, removing his hand. “Truth is, I don't give a shit about your friends, your girlfriend, your brother, Jason, I don't, I just want them off this godforsaken island soon as fucking possible. I don't even care how anymore, I just want them gone.”

“Then why the fuck are you holding them?”

“We're getting to that, Jason, be patient. All you need to know is that- you fucking matter. To me.” Vaas told him, gesturing to the center of his chest.

“Oh, I'm so fucking glad to know-” Jason started before being silenced by a glare from Vaas. Angry as he was, he did not want to ruin a chance of getting himself and his friends off of Rook.

Vaas gave a dry laugh and sat across from Jason, leaning back in his seat, and idly looking to the side. “You know, Jason, my sister, she took everything, fucking everything away from me. I mean, I knew she was a bitch, and that was just her. I accepted that, but I didn't think she'd be that much of a bitch.” Vaas looked back at Jason, scowling, “You stabbed me Jason,” he brought his hand to his chest. “Right here. Could have got me right in the heart. And then, when you stabbed me, I realized something, I had a little fucking epiphany right there. You want to know what that epiphany was?” 

Jason said nothing, only glowered at Vaas, and thought about stomping on his goddamn smug face.

“I realized that there's a big fucking hole right here already.” Vaas' fingers curled against chest. “And you saw it too, Jason. That's why you missed. Fucking thing would have gone right through me, so you went for the next best thing.”

“For the love of God, Vaas, how the fuck would I know-?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Vaas shrieked, leaning towards Jason and glaring properly now. “Don't give me your bullshit! You saw. You saw, you pussy motherfucker, you stabbed a wounded man! And they say I'm fucked up!” Vaas' expression remained the same for a moment before softening into a light smile. “But you know what, Jason? I'll forgive you. I do forgive you. You wanna know why? 'cause you're gonna make it up to me. You're gonna fill that hole. You can fill that hole.”

Squeezing his eyes shut, Jason let out a heavy breath. If there was one thing Vaas had convinced him of, it would be that there is nothing worse than having to sit through a lunatic's monologues on a regular basis. “And if I don't?” Jason asked, tone turned drowsy and defeated.

“You are not a fuckwit, Jason, I know that about you. I am not going to play this fucking game for you.” He slapped Jason's shoulder with the back of his hand. “C'mon, you can do better.”

Jason looked up at Vaas, his eyes narrowed, and frown threatening to drop below his jaw. “If I don't, I die.”

“Right, right, and...?” Vaas prompted, resting an upturned elbow on the table before placing his chin against his open palm.

“And my friends die.” Jason gritted out, narrowing his eyes at Vaas.

“That's right, Jason. There's my smart bitch,” Vaas praised, sitting up as he spoke, “The thing is, Jason, I don't want you dead, I want you here with me. It wouldn't be good for either of us if I had to unload a shotgun in your face, and I know you wouldn't want anything to happen to your friends.”

Keeping his gaze on Vaas, Jason leaned back. As much as he wanted to bash that goddamn grin in with the butt of an assault rifle, Jason's options did not allow for any such satisfaction. “Let me get this straight: you've killed one of my brothers, tried to kill me, my other brother, and my friends more than once, are now holding them as a bargaining chip, have raped me _twice_ , and you expect me to-" He winced as he realized exactly what Vaas had in mind, "-you expect me to play your- your boyfriend to save my own life and theirs?”

“Yeah. It's a fair deal, eh?”

“Fuck...” Jason leaned back as best he could, tilting his head back and squeezing his eyes shut.

“They'll have their lives back, and you get to stay where you belong.”

“What the hell makes you think I belong here?”

“Jason, there are two kinds of people in this world: the people who can survive the jungle, and the people who die here. Your friends are the ones who die, I shouldn't have to tell you that.” Vaas glanced away from Jason, and slowly shook his head. “They're meant to live their dull little lives in their cities, forgetting how to feed themselves, and thinking magic isn't real.” Vaas refocused on Jason before continuing, “You, though, Jason, you and me, we did it, we can do it, we conquered the fucking jungle. We can hunt, we can make our own stuff, we can be independent. You really think you belong back in California, blanquito? Jumping off planes and shit for a rush? Not even getting your own fucking food? No, Jason, that's not you. I know you-” Vaas stood, and leaned towards Jason, placing both hands on the edge of table, “-I know you better than any of your little pussy friends out there do.”

Jason would have wrung Vaas' neck had he not been restrained.

“You don't know a goddamn thing about me,” Jason said through his teeth, glaring into Vaas' eyes.

“And that's- that's where you're wrong, Jason,” Vaas snickered. “But it doesn't matter. What does matter, what makes all the fucking difference is that I need you here.”

“Why the fuck do you care so much?”

“I keep telling you, Jason. We're so much like each other. I haven't had anyone like me in fucking forever. I want you around.”

“I don't give a shit what you want.”

“But you do give a shit about them, don't you?”

Jason wanted to leave. He wanted to be away from Rook and away from everything he had been through. More than that, though, he wanted his friends to be away from the island. They needed to be back home more than he did. They could be okay again, they could have their lives. Maybe they would even send him help.

Taking in a heavy breath, Jason bowed his head. “Okay. I'll stay. Just get them off the island.”

Vaas stroked down Jason's cheek, grinning. “I knew you'd see it my way, Jason. And I know, I know, you fucking hate me right now, but really, Jason, I'm not just doing this for me.”

“Get them off the island,” Jason repeated flatly, staring down at the floor.

“Cheer up, Jason,” Vaas said, his tone condescending yet tender. “I'm gonna, just for you. I wouldn't lie to you.”

More than he ever had, Jason hated Vaas.


	2. Hell's Welcome Video

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a stress writer and editor, it seems.

Jason's hands were still bound behind him, but he was no longer seething. Oh, he was still angry, but his talk with Vaas had left him tired enough to be led out of the interrogation room by the arm by one of Vaas' flunkies without resistance. Physically, he could have climbed a mountain, but that mattered little when his mind felt like the popped filament of a light bulb. Finding out that the most volatile man he had ever met was alive was bad enough without the added pressure to stay on Rook while his friends went back to their loving families, big houses, and soft beds. All Jason wanted to do now was lie down and rest. When he could think properly again, then he could worry about what to do next.

Fortunately, the trip to wherever he was being led lasted only a few minutes. Jason's eyes were half-closed through most of it, his feet moving without his command. The breeze against his skin and the slight resistance of grass below his shoes told him that he was outside, but that barely registered in his mind. It was almost nice to not have to think too hard, if only briefly. For a moment, the pirate driving him forward stopped, and Jason was vaguely aware of a hinge creaking. He allowed his eyes to close fully, sure he would nod off within the moment.

His lack of thought was cut off, however, as his guide shoved him past a doorway, cut the ropes binding his hands, and slammed the door behind him all in an instant. Jason only found the will to flinch after the door was long shut.

“Goddammit,” Jason muttered to himself, touching at his forehead. Maybe he was more physically tired than he had thought. He could barely remember the last time that he had slept.

Looking around at the room, Jason was surprised to find a reasonably cozy living area rather than a prison. Two cots lay on either side of the room, one covered in pelts of various origins while the other with only a ragged duvet and a single sheet. His heart jumped at the sight of a pair of asymmetrical windows filtering evening light into the room high above each bed, but fell once more when he realized that they had been covered in black bars firmly bolted in place. Between the cots sat a crude wooden table flanked on either side by matching chairs. Jason theorized that they were either hand-made by a less than skilled craftsman or were simply worn from heavy use. Finally, in the very back of the room, behind both beds, a couple of padded chairs sat alongside a woven table on top of which sat a portable radio.

Jason sighed at the lack of anything apparently useful and stumbled over to the fur covered cot before flopping on top of it. Pushing himself to keep going right now would undoubtedly lead to disaster or at least humiliation. He could figure things out after a good long nap.

*****

Jason blinked open his eyes as his ears alerted him of muffled music coming from nearby. He was still groggy, though, and did his best to imitate a turtle as he brought his limbs up towards his body and pulled his head away from the pillow it was resting upon. There was- Hold on. Had there been a pillow on the bed when he had gone to sleep? Jason was pretty sure that there had not been.

“About time you started waking up, Jason,” a certain accented voice said to him from nearby. He heard a click and the music stopped.

“For fuck's sake...” Jason mumbled rolling onto his back. He was still dreaming, at least a little. He had to be. There was no way that he had ended up with _him_ again.

“C'mon, Jason,” the voice called again, “You've been out for fifteen hours, you need some fucking calories in you.”

The backs of someone's fingers tapped his forehead, but Jason tried to ignore the sensation. He just had to sleep for a while longer and then he would never have to deal with this psycho ever again.

“Okay, Jason, you're not fucking funny anymore, seriously, get up.”

Something cool, wet, and slightly sticky touched his cheek, and Jason very nearly fell out bed as he spasmed to get away from the contact. Whatever that was, he doubted that he could have dreamed it.

“What the fuck?!” he screamed, scrambling to get into an upright position. As his hands finally found purchase, he looked to the side of his cot and recoiled.

Vaas was shirtless and holding a half eaten mango in one hand. From his expression, Jason might have assumed that he had not heard his captive's exclamation. “There he is,” he said, his tone unnaturally placid.

“What- what the fuck?!” Jason repeated, now realizing exactly what had touched him.

“What's the matter?” Vaas asked before glancing down at the piece of fruit in his hand, “It's just mango. You can wash your face later. And, you know, you might need to wash anyway. When's the last time you had a decent bath, Jason? Like, not in the ocean? And with soap? We have soap here. I bet you haven't even seen soap in however-fucking-many months, and-”

As Vaas continued on his tangent, Jason tried to ignore the traces of juice and saliva on his cheek as his mind slowly picked up the pieces of exactly what had happened the previous night.

Jason grabbed at his scalp, and shook his head. “Oh my God,” he said, slowly swiveling himself so that he could place his feet on the floor, “Oh my fucking Go-od.”

“So, do you want some eggs?” Vaas asked, stepping back from the bed. “Or a, uh, a banana? Guavas? Some starfruit? Help me out here, Jason.”

“Are you fucking high?!” Jason blundered out.

“Uh, a little more than I wanted to be, yeah,” Vaas said, nodding with a half-smile, “But, c'mon, man, I'm offering you breakfast and you're bitching at me. Do you- do you see the problem here?”

“You fucking kidnapped me! You might have killed my friends! I don't want your food!” Jason got to his feet and leaned towards Vaas before screaming, “I should strangle you!”

Vaas glared at him for a moment as though he was about to snap back, but his expression melted back into a contented smile before he spoke, “Okay, okay, right, I get it, you're upset, Jason.” He sighed before muttering under his breath, “I planned for this, don't worry.” He strode to the table in the middle of the room.

More angry words bubbled up into Jason's throat, but died as his eyes gravitated towards a camcorder that Vaas picked up from the table after he had place his mango down.

“I think you'll like this.” Vaas pulled the device's miniature monitor into an outward position, continuing to talk as he cued up whatever it was he wanted Jason to see, “I didn't want you to bite my fucking head off because you weren't sure, so I just, you know, made some evidence.”

Vaas shoved the camera towards Jason, smirking at him. Jason glanced from Vaas' face to the device a few times, grimacing at the thought of whatever sick joke the pirate might be trying to play on him. Finally with a last glare at Vaas, Jason snatched up the camcorder. He sat down so that he could support the camera's front in his lap, angled the screen towards his face, and pressed play.

_Vaas stood in front of what Jason recognized as Dr. Earnhardt's former home, just shy of being on the path that led down to the cave that his friends had hidden in. Light from the rising sun was just beginning to materialize in what was visible of the horizon. A lit joint was visible between Vaas' ring and middle finger, but it was smoldering as Vaas neglected it in favor of raging at something or someone just behind the camera._

_“-maldito pulsador rojo, imbécil! Si me obligas a hacer este mierda por mi mismo, tú vas a nadar con los tiburones!” Vaas rushed out, glaring presumably at his camera operator. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead before continuing, “¿Estamos grabando?”_

Jason almost wished that he had taken that Spanish course back in college. Studying Italian seemed remarkably useless in retrospect. The best he could do was barely follow each foreign syllable.

With a brief glance at Vaas, Jason sat back down on the bed. No doubt the tape would take a while to finish.

_After a short pause, Vaas lightened his expression to a grin. He tossed his makeshift cigarette to the ground and crushed it under his boot as he began to speak towards the camera, “Hey, Jason. I had a thought before I went ahead with this.” Vaas turned towards the path nearby, just barely keeping an eye on the camera, and began sauntering along, camera operator following suit. “I thought, “You know, blanquito will be pissed if I don't show him his friends going off the island, but I can't just let him near them while they go. That- that wouldn't end well for anyone.” So you know what I decided?” He paused as though he was going to receive an answer, picking up his pace and forcing his operator to shake the camera more than usual._

Suddenly feeling slightly nauseous, Jason briefly looked away from the screen. He had never liked movies that used shaky cam. A frown came over Jason's face. Grant had sometimes teased him about a shaking camera making him sick, but a drop from a thousand feet not even fazing him. Jason grimaced and pushed the memory away. It was too much to think about with Vaas still in the room. By the time that he looked back at the recording, the scene had changed to show the interior of the cave that his friends had used as a hiding place for so long.

_“I decided that we're gonna record it so you can be all glad for them, and not bitch about it to me later.” Vaas finally concluded as the camera refocused in the lower light of the cave._

_Vaas gave a quick nod, and the camera panned to focus on Jason's four remaining friends and one remaining brother, bound and resting on their knees. Most of them had their heads tilted forward to varying degrees, but Daisy kept hers held up, staring forward with a defiant dignity in her gaze. Riley had his head up as well, but his eyes were trained on Vaas, like a snake ready ready to strike the moment his prey came near._

_“So, what I did, Jason, what I've done is I went and blew up those fucking stones in your boat's way,” Vaas said, gesturing in the direction of the water, and the camera angled to show the now cleared path of the cavern. “I really don't know how the fuck you were going to get out in your own, to be honest-” Vaas said as the camera refocused on him, “-but, you know, I don't care enough to give a shit. So, uh, let's go talk to your friends.” He giggled before adding more quietly,“They're scared shitless; it's kind of funny.”_

_“Okay, everyone, I need your undivided attention for the next, uh, ten minutes, I guess,” Vaas announced as he approached the five. He walked the row of them like a drill sergeant in front of his troops, nudging those who had their heads down with his boot._

_Liza raised her head sluggishly, looking up at Vaas briefly before spotting the camera and cringing. She kept her eyes low then, occasionally glancing up to watch Vaas. Keith only seemed shrink further into himself as Vaas prodded him. He lifted his head, but held it so far towards himself the he looked almost like a turtle peering out of its shell. Ollie, who had had his head sagging the lowest, did not respond at all the Vaas' prompting. Jason would have thought that he had outright died from the stress had he not been up on his knees._

_Ignoring Ollie's lack of response, Vaas started his spiel, “Now, we cleared out those- those fucking boulders that were in your way. We looked at your boat too, but, uh, it's fine, just about fucking perfect as it can be, the way it is. Good job, I'd give you some stickers or some shit, but I don't have any. So, we're just gonna be sending you all on your merry fucking way right after I explain a little. What's gonna happen is that you're gonna get on this boat with some of my guys. They'll be driving about halfway to the mainland. A couple of smaller boats will flank you, and when you're at the halfway mark, they'll cut one of you loose and hightail it the fuck out of there. There's food, water, and a GPS onboard, so if at least one of you's not completely fucking retarded, you should be okay. If you all are, well, let's call this my little contribution to natural selection. So, what I'm-”_

_“You fucker!” Riley broke in suddenly, “You killed my fucking brothers! I'll have your head! I'll slaughter you and anyone who gets in my way!”_

_Next to Riley, Jason saw Liza's lips move, but he could not make out what she had muttered to Riley. Whatever it was, Riley had either not heard or no longer cared what she had to say._

_“Okay, I told you before, Jason is fine.” Vaas insisted, gritting his teeth and trying not to look at Riley, “So shut the fuck up before you ruin this, dumbass.”_

_“Shut the fuck up?! Don't you fucking tell me to shut the fuck up, you psycho freak! I swear on their graves you'll pay for this! You fucking hear me?! I'll end you!”_

Dear God. Jason had not seen Riley so ready to kill since he was prepubescent.

_Vaas clenched his fists and tensed up as he gritted out his next words, “You're pushing me, white boy. You really don't want to do that.”_

_“Go to hell! I'll push you as much as a damn well please! You fucking killed my family! I don't give a shit anymore, I just want your head on a fucking plate!”_

_“That fucking does it, you little twinkie shit! You want a fight, I'll give you a fucking fight!” Vaas shrieked. He turned back to his operator and snarled, “Apágalo! Apágalo!”_

_The camera tilted downward, but Jason could still hear Vaas screaming his head off._

_“You think you know fuck all about losing your family?! You want to fucking talk to me about that, you little chicken shit?! I'll fucking tell you-!”_

The screen finally went dark as the audio cut off. Jason took the chance to peek up at Vaas, who still stared at him. While the pirate wore a grin, his right eye was scrunched just slightly, and Jason could swear that he looked almost sheepish.

_“Okay! Okay,” Vaas said, breathing more heavily than usual._

Jason whipped his head back to look at the screen as the video started again.

_The camera was still focused on Vaas and his friends, but Riley now had a cloth gag in his mouth._

_“Jason, your brother, he's fucking intense, fucking crazy, screaming at me like that.” He rubbed his face, giving a short laugh before continuing, “I mean, at least you were always smart enough to shut the fuck up before you made me realize...” He looked at the camera and blinked slowly, as though in a trance before shaking his head._

_“I was gonna do something. Right!” Vaas strode over to Daisy and knelt down in front of her. “So, I'm thinking you're the responsible one here?” he asked, cocking his head._

_Daisy said nothing. Her face only scrunched as she continued to stare forward._

_“I'm going to assume that you are, you look pretty fucking responsible.” Vaas said, keeping his eyes on Daisy as he reached down to the front of his hip and produced a folded stack of some kind of bill._

Weird. Jason could swear that Vaas' cargoes had no pockets on them.

_“Now, I'm gonna give you this. Should be more than enough to get you all tickets back to California.”_

_Vaas reached down behind Daisy, shoved her shirt up with one side of his hand, and tucked the bills into her back pocket. His ring finger twitched incessantly throughout as though the mildness of his actions exerted him._

_Tensing at the contact, Daisy's eyes fell upon Vaas at last. “Don't touch me, you fucking creep.” The look she gave was almost as sharp as her tone, yet her manner seemed more stern than angry._

_“No, no, never, of course not, mi dama,” Vaas said, pulling his hands back and holding them out flat. He waggled his fingers a bit before finishing, “Wouldn't dream of tainting you so badly. But seriously, that's alotta money, don't lose it.”_

_Daisy made no response, only held her head high once more. Vaas shook his head, giving a snicker as he stood back up._

_“And one last thing, if you try to come back here to Rook, trust me, nobody is gonna come out happy. Not you, not Jason, and definitely not me.” Vaas emphasized this with sweeping glance over all of them. “Alright then, let's get you guys on the boat before this gets weird!”_

The video cut once again only to immediately resume.

_The shot was now focused on Vaas and one of his men standing in front of the boat, which had been repositioned to face towards the cave's back exit._

_“Eso es el ultimo,” The mook told his boss._

_“Great, good job, now shoo, fuck off,” Vaas said, waving him away._

_As his underling hurried away, Vaas waded through the shallow water before hauling himself up onto the boat's deck. The camera operator followed suit, revealing a picture of Jason's four friends and one brother set up in a tight row on the boat's starboard side._

_“You see, Jason? Your friends are all here. They are all fine. There are rations on the ship-”_

_The camera tilted to the side to show two coolers stacked on top of each other and held together by a strap._

_“-everything will be just fine.”_

_A splash could be heard as the scene cut away._

_The next shot showed Vaas, lower legs visibly wet, turned away from the camera and waving as the boat made its way out of the cave. “Jason is in good hands, I promise!” he shouted, unnaturally cheerful words echoing through the cave, “Y Gabino, si arruinas esta, voy a matarte!”_

_The camera zoomed in briefly on the vessel to show the five bodies of his friends still aboard and recognizable. Oliver still had his head down and Riley was still gagged and looking back at Vaas._

_Vaas continued to wave until the boat was finally out of sight, at which point he turned back and approached the camera. “See Jason? They're fine, just fine, and going home. Doesn't that make you happy? I mean, it should. Makes me happy. Less for me to deal with. And they can live now. Like normal, I guess, for them. Isn't that nice? Just- just fucking fantastic.”_

_A frown came over Vaas' face just as the camera cut off for the final time._

Jason took a deep breath as the tape ended. “They're off the island then.”

“Yeah, hermano,” Vaas said with an unbearably smug grin, “Should be hopping on a plane for California now if they know what's good for them.”

“You didn't hurt them?”

“Nope. They're just fine, Jason, I promise,” Vaas assured him. He lowered his head and tilted it slightly, eyes wider than normal.

Jason swallowed thickly and pursed his lips. The sense of gratitude mounting in him was promptly crushed by pure spite. “You could have planted a time bomb somewhere on that boat,” he said finally.

Vaas' expression twisted from a hopeful beam to a stiff glower. “I go to all this fucking trouble to make you feel better and you just- you throw it back at me?” he asked, voice low and restrained as he stepped towards Jason to tower over him. “I didn't have to do shit for you! But I fucking did!” Vaas shrieked, “You should be fucking thanking me, you bitch! I don't have the time to deal with your bullshit!”

Jason stood then, meeting Vaas' stare. He was just slightly taller than Vaas and the ability to look down on his tormentor granted him the will to stand strong then.“You think that just because you do shit for me I'm gonna be your lap dog?” he asked, keeping his voice steady and deliberate, “Fuck you, Vaas. I don't owe you a damn thing, and I never will, not after what you put me and them through. If you don't like it, just shoot me right now so we'll never have to deal with each other ever again.”

They glared into each other's eyes for a moment longer, Vaas shaking just slightly. Jason almost hoped that he would just snap already so that they could get to killing each other. 

“I never fucking lied to you!” Vaas finally snapped before storming towards the door, swinging it open, and slamming it behind himself.

A hopeful idea passed through Jason's mind and he approached the door, trying to open it as he had the prior night. Locked once again. Well, at least he had tried.

Sitting back down on the pelt-covered cot that he guessed he now had claim to, Jason considered Vaas' words. It was true, Vaas had no motivation to lie to him at this point. But that was not what Vaas had claimed. He had said that he had “never lied” to Jason. Thinking back, that was completely true as far as Jason could tell. Of course, he had never figured out what a lot of what Vaas had said to him meant, but what he had understood had never been deceptive. 

Jason shook his head. What was the point of thinking about what his captor had said? Vaas was, at best, some kind of sociopath. Lying or not, Jason was going to give him hell for what he had done. He would have liked to give Vaas a bullet in the head too, but that was not looking like an immediate option.

Jason's heart sank as his eyes fell once more on the forgotten camcorder. His friends were going home. They would have their lives again. They would be away from the hell that Jason had subjected them to. Jason should have been overjoyed, but he felt ready to weep. Oliver had never been the brightest bulb, but he had not seen the worst of what Rook could dole out so Jason figured that he would turn out fine. Daisy would mourn the loss of Grant, but she was one of the strongest women that Jason had ever met, and he was sure that she would press on as always. Liza would forget about him and move on to better things. Jason had always been the one holding her back, he knew, never being supportive enough, never caring enough, always off on his own endeavors. Keith would need all the help he could get to deal with what he had been through, but he had his previous success, family, and friends to lean on. He would turn out okay, Jason was certain. And Riley... When he thought of Riley, that was when the tears really did start running from Jason's eyes.

Riley had so much to give, Jason knew. Why had he never been there for Riley when he had had the chance? Why had he only started being there after they had gotten to the island? Why had he never hugged his brother enough? Why had he not been a better brother? Jason wiped some fluid from his eyes, and tried to will himself to stop thinking about Riley. Riley was gone now, gone with his friends, and Jason would have to deal with that. Taking a deep breath, Jason looked up at the ceiling. He hoped that, wherever Riley was, he knew that his brother still loved him to death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like the idea of Vaas being a bit of a camera whore after the whole Chris incident. I also like the idea of him keeping around a tape based camcorder. Incorporating these two things was enjoyable.
> 
> Any highlighting of errors or inconsistencies or any criticism really is very much appreciated. I like comments in general really, they make my day.


	3. Deep Jungle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of mostly unnecessary research I did on rainforests, vegetables, tropical plant life, and tetherball during the process of writing this chapter was just ridiculous. I spent so much time trying to figure out what kind of forest covers most of Rook Island, and I simply could not find an accurate match that would make sense within the geography of the island. Does this bother anyone else? Does anyone know what kind of forests Rook has even? They don't look like anything naturally occurring.

After Vaas had left him be, Jason laid upon his cot, just thinking for what felt like a very long time. Family, friends, Riley, home, Vaas, escape... The thoughts revolved in his head like a mobile until finally he drifted into sleep. When he woke once more, he peeked towards the window on his side of the room, and did his best to estimate the time. While he was unable to tell what direction he was facing or the sun's exact position in the sky, the light level was low and soft enough to indicate either the afternoon or the early evening. Perfectly aware that he would be unable to sleep any longer, Jason continued to lay there, resting and thinking more clearly now. Even with his best efforts to distract himself, however, boredom was setting in fast.

After stretching out his arms and legs, Jason hauled himself to his feet. Vaas must have given him _something_ to do in here, intentional or not. If not a book or a deck of cards, some structural weakness to pick at or a rock to toss around or, well, anything. He turned his head in a slow arc as he looked around the room. Door, window, second bed, table, chairs, radio- His eyes stopped on the radio. Even if it would only be minimally stimulating, anything was better than nothing.

Jason stepped over to the coffee table that the radio sat on and knelt down in front of it, turning the radio so that its face pointed towards him. The thing was essentially just a box with an antenna and a switch sticking out of it in structure, the thin metal of its shell worn and marred, particularly at the sides. On its front, a strip of glass covered a meter of sorts that Jason assumed indicated its current frequency, and below that were three knobs. As he was not an expert with primitive devices, the most he could divine from looking at the radio's outside was that he would definitely not be able to use it to call for help. Beyond that, tilting the radio to look at the top and back revealed that its panels were held tightly in place by tiny screws. With no more apparent options, Jason merely flicked the radio on, and started experimenting with the few knobs on the device. He quickly figured out that the farthest knob to the right controlled volume and the two left knobs controlled the frequency, the larger being for seeking signals and the smaller for fine-tuning the signal. Unfortunately, as Jason spun the large left knob, only one frequency picked up anything but static: the one that was broadcasting that same playlist that he had heard in cars since he had arrived on Rook. Well, beggars couldn't be choosers, Jason supposed, and some of the songs were pretty catchy. 

Sighing, Jason relaxed against the floor, spreading his arms out and allowing his eyes to droop. After a while, Jason found himself muttering nonsense that might have resembled the lyrics of the song playing just then, “Dondesta, booscala, la broohaday sambatine...” The combination of incoherent syllables flowing from his lips and the lack of any additional external stimulation worked to lull Jason into a trance. For a moment, he forgot that he was trapped, that he should have been trying to get away, that he was in the absolute worst possible place, that...

“Jason?”

Jason scrambled to click the radio off before turning to glare at Vaas. The last thing he wanted was Vaas thinking that he appreciated any provided creature comforts. How in the name of God had he not heard the door creaking open? Or closing behind Vaas for that matter?

Vaas was beaming at the sight of him, laughing with his eyes. “That's okay, hermano, I like seeing you listening. But, uh, do you want to come check out the base? I want you to know you're way around. I don't want you sitting here just moping all the fucking time. We'd both hate that.”

“I'll mope if I damn well please, you ass,” Jason said, lazily allowing his upper half to flop back against the floor.

“Come on, Jason.” Vaas insisted, shutting the door behind himself before sauntering towards the American, “You've been in here for, like, three hours. Don't fucking lie to me and tell me you're having fun.”

“More fun than I'll ever have around you.”

Vaas leaned over him to look down at his face, “What? You never had fun with me? When- when you stabbed me, that wasn't fun? Wrecking my shit and outrunning the fucking Reaper? That should be fun, you know, doing things that scare the shit out of people not like us, and things that make me want to-”

“Will you stop fucking talking if I go with you?!” Jason snapped, cutting Vaas off.

A frown came over Vaas' face before he allowed himself a pulse of laughter. “Uh, sure, probably, for a little,” Vaas said, kneeling down and holding out his hand.

Jason grunted and leaned his head back before pushing himself up to his feet, ignoring Vaas' hand entirely. “Fine, whatever, it's better than just sitting in here,” he admitted.

“Great, fucking fantastic!” Vaas stilled suddenly and narrowed his eyes at Jason. “Why the fuck were you lying on the floor?” he finally asked.

“I like lying on the floor. It reminds me that the ceiling exists.” 

Vaas stared blankly at him for a few seconds before finally giving a laugh and patting Jason's shoulder. “C'mon, Jason, let's get you outside before your head gets as crazy as your mouth.” As he turned towards the door, Vaas grabbed Jason's hand and started leading him along.

“Whoa! No, no, no, no!” Jason cried as he tried to pull out of Vaas' grip to no avail.

Vaas stopped at the door to look back at Jason. “I don't want you wandering off and getting hurt, Jason. Some of my guys, you know, they're fucking assholes and don't love me having you here.”

“I'm not a fucking child, you dick! I'm not going anywhere!” Jason insisted, mentally crossing his fingers as he spoke.

“But- your hands are really soft, Jason. It's nice. I want to touch you.” Vaas blinked and pursed his lips before correcting himself, “Okay, that came out bad, but you know what I mean, blanquito, no?”

“We are not holding hands, Vaas. I am _not_ your boyfriend.”

“'course you're not, Jason. If you were-” Vaas stopped as he winced and released Jason's hand, taking a deep breath and clenching his fists. “It's okay. That's okay, I understand. Just stay near me, okay?”

“I told you, I fucking will,” Jason reiterated, rolling his eyes.

“Good, good, then let's- let's just fucking go, come on.”

Vaas pushed the door open and strode out of the door, very nearly allowing it to hit Jason in the face as he followed behind the former Rakyat. Jason caught the door mid-swing because he had grown out of expecting anything to be done for him, but still, for someone who seemed intent on winning Jason's favor, Vaas was not exactly being chivalrous. Jason made no complaint, enjoying having an immediate reason to spite Vaas even more than usual.

A beam of sunlight met Jason's eye as he stepped down, forcing him to wince and bring his hand up over his face. He had almost forgotten how intense the sun could be even late in the day, but at least he had not tripped on the substantial step downward from the cabin. How long had Vaas said he was out for? Fifteen hours? And then another three. As his eyes finally adjusted, they went wide at the sight that surrounded him. He and Vaas were standing on top of a miniature cliff that overhung a much larger semi-clearing surrounded by thick jungle. Jason barely even recognized the area as a habitable base as he tilted his head to take in the sights before him. A tree that boasted a trunk that had to have been wider than two cars rose up in the center of the clearing. The leaves of its crown rose far above those of the few trees of similar height within the clearing. At the foot of the tree, thick roots pushed away any bungalow threatening to encroach. Structures were few and far between, all things considered, seemingly edged out of the way by opportunistic flora. Every building looked to be made from almost exclusively wood, vines and climbing ferns growing out of control on their surfaces. Some shacks barely even appeared man-made, rather they looked as though the jungle had decided to make a house out of vines and moss. After being cooped up for so long, Jason felt like it was his first time seeing such vibrancy all in one area.

“How long was this place abandoned?” Jason asked,

“Abandoned?” Vaas said, cocking his head slightly, “No, no, Jason, I made this. For a back up, you know? You think I didn't have a plan besides that little fucking island?”

“It's just so- green,” Jason said, only realizing how stupid he sounded once the words left his mouth.

Vaas snickered at his comment, and twitch his left hand in an almost-circle as he explained, “Lotta plants grow fast around the trees, hermano, you have no idea. Takes a lot of machetes to cut back, but this is harder to find than my old place. I mean, you didn't find it.” A smirk crossed his face. “You like it, though, so I bet you wish you had.”

“Fuck you,” Jason said, consciously souring his expression.

“Jason- “ Vaas approached him and leaned in to grab his shoulder, the pressure of his grip bordering on painful, “-you will have a much easier time when you stop being a bitch, you really will.” Vaas grinned at Jason for a moment before pulling his hand back, “So come on, let's get you, uh, acquainted.”

Vaas trudged over to a ladder down the cliff, and knelt beside it before climbing on and shimmying down to the bottom.

Reluctantly, Jason followed suit, though, he liked to think that he looked a lot more stylish sliding down the ladder than Vaas had looked while practically wobbling down it. When he turned to look at Vaas, the former Rakyat was already heading off. With a brief roll of his eyes, Jason followed.

Between the scents of earth and moisture and musk, a distinct rich, smoky smell caught Jason's attention. Someone was cooking pork or maybe boar. Suddenly, Jason remembered just how hungry he was, and, unfortunately, his stomach started making a fuss.

Vaas stopped in his tracks, and twisted his upper half back towards Jason. “Is someone trying to tell us something?”

Once again, Jason really, really wanted to punch the damn smirk off of Vaas' face.

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Jason growled.

“You know, Jason, it's pretty fucking sad when your stomach is a better talker than you,” Vaas told him. For a moment, he just stared at Jason, smiling, before speaking again, “Let's get you something then, vamos, vamos!”

Vaas led him through the tiny alleyways between shacks, plant life, and several trees before they arrived at a small clearing. Five or so pirates idled around a griddle that stood above the embers of what must have been a strong fire at some point. Most of them stood or leaned against the sides of cabins while a few sat on the ground or on one of a few lawn chairs. Some were eating, but most seemed to be either finished or waiting. A pair of tongs lay propped up on a semi-flat rock near to the coals. On the griddle lay several slices of what Jason recognized as both side and back bacon, most of it about ready to be eaten.

“Hola, chicos.” Vaas greeted them.

As soon as Vaas spoke, every pirate in the clearing looked up at him with unquestionable attention.

“Podria robar un poco de sus tocino?” Vaas asked, making eye contact with each one as he turned his head.

“Adelante, adelante,” the pirate closest to the griddle said without hesitation.

“Gracias, hermano,” Vaas said, before picking up the tongs, and scooping up several strips. He held them aloft for a minute or so before turning and offering them to Jason with a smile.

Shooting Vaas a skeptical stare, Jason cautiously reached out and took the greasy pig innards in his hand. They were hot to the touch, but not painfully so. And even if they were, Jason probably would have consumed them just as quickly. Within just a moment, Jason had wolfed down two of the three strips that he had been given

“Ciro, eh!” Vaas barked, clapping his hands at one of his men, “Tráenos agua y café, rapidamente por favor.”

A pirate with a red bandana covering his mouth jumped to attention as he was called, and, with a quick, muffled, “Si, si” ran off to do whatever Vaas had told him to do.

“Are all your men Spanish?” Jason asked through a mouthful.

“About three out of four, yeah.” Vaas estimated, “The rest are, uh, were Rakyat. Some black guys. A few Orientals. Got a lot more white guys now with Hoyt out of the picture. Still, mostly Latinos.”

“Why?”

“Dunno actually,” Vaas admitted, “I guess Hoyt figured they'd like me more. Or maybe he was just a racist fuck and sent all the dirty fucking Montanas as far away as he could afford.”

“Do most of them only speak Spanish?”

“Not all of them, Blanconieves,” Someone with an even heavier accent than Vaas said.

Jason looked towards the few men who were milling around, but none of them were even looking up, making it near-impossible to tell who had spoken.

“Not all of them,” Vaas agreed with a shrug.

Jason's eyes strayed to the side as he chewed his third piece of bacon. Through an alleyway between two structures, in what was presumably a different clearing, two pirates were hitting a barely visible tennis ball back and forth around a sapling. In fact, after a moment of observation, Jason realized that the ball was attached to the tree by a string or wire of some kind. The match seemed pretty intense from where Jason was standing, and he would not have been surprised if there were spectators that he was unable to see. As he watched, Jason swallowed his half-chewed strip on sheer impulse.

Vaas noticed his staring after a second and followed his eyes. “Yes, you are seeing of my guys hitting a ball around a tree for fun,” he explained, “No, the bacon is not full of drugs. Probably.”

“You- you people play tetherball?”

“Is that what you call it in California?”

“What do you call it?” 

“Swingball,” Vaas enthused, “I've got enough guys to be on guard, so I figure, what the hell, why not let them do something fun? Aside from fucking, but they do that no matter what I tell them.” He gave a snort of laughter before finishing, “Set up a few courts and they took right to it.”

“Never figured vicious, druggie pirates would go for a game I played back in elementary school,” Jason commented dryly.

“You played it?” Vaas asked, raising his brow.

“Well, yeah, when I was, like, seven. Ball hit me in the face once.” Jason was unsure as to why he was telling Vaas all this, but he continued nonetheless, “Knocked one of my teeth loose. Never played again afterward.”

Vaas blinked before giving a whoop of laughter. “Damn, Jason, you were a fucking pussy! Let a- a little fucking ball kick your ass, and now you're, well, you're fucking you. That's funny, how- how things like that happen.” He frowned suddenly, looking away from Jason, “How we're one thing and then, give a few years, and we're something completely fucking different. That is fucking crazy.”

“I- guess, yeah,” Jason conceded with a shrug. Whatever Vaas was getting at, Jason did not want it to include any of his embarrassing childhood stories as examples.

Just then, Ciro, if Jason had heard his name right, came rushing back towards them, two containers in his hand. The first, some kind of can with Japanese writing on it, he tossed to Vaas, who caught it with practiced ease. The second, he handed directly to Jason, standing as away from the American as possible. Jason met his eyes as he cautiously took what he now recognized as an unmarked water bottle from the lackey. As soon as the bottle was in Jason's hand, Ciro hopped away from him and returned to sitting among the vegetation on the ground.

Jason just gripped the water for a moment, looking at it like it contained venom. His thirst, however, made its will known as he twisted the cap off of the bottle, and brought the neck to his lips. More than half of it was down Jason's throat within a few seconds. No denying it now: Jason really needed to piss before the new fluids got through his system. He looked up over the the many stout structures and quickly discerned the nearest exit into the thicker jungle. Without a word, Jason dropped the empty bottle, and started towards the clearing's edge.

“Hey, hey, where the hell are you going?” Vaas demanded, rushing over and grabbing Jason's lower arm.

“To piss under a tree,” Jason replied without looking back at Vaas.

“Ah, yeah. That's probably a pretty fucking good idea at this point.” Vaas conceded, releasing his arm, “Just- don't go too far. That wouldn't be good for me. You. Both of us. Okay?”

“I'm not an idiot.” Jason insisted for what must have been the third time that day before storming off towards the nearest jungle border.

Who did Vaas think he was? Jason seethed to himself as he made his way away from the camp between the trees. The uncleared forest floor was more intimidating than he had anticipated. He could freely walk around without any difficulty, but, between the tree tops and the plant life festering not far above his head, barely any light reached the ground. Jason could easily just walk away from the light still visible in the clearing, but he would have no sense of how to get out of this forest and onto a road. Was that what Vaas had meant about not going too far? A plea for Jason to not get himself lost?

Jason considered fleeing as he pressed his slacks down just so. Could this jungle possibly not go on as far as it seemed to? Could Jason just run in one direction until he got to a road or a beach or anywhere where he could find help? Would he just end up running in circles and dying before getting another chance at going home?

Jason stopped at the word “home.” Where was home anyway? He had thought that he had found it with Citra, but that had fallen through badly. And going back to California...

“Goddammit,” Jason muttered. Was Vaas right about him?

Too many questions to figure out on his own, too much uncertainty. With a sigh, Jason pulled his pants up, and strode back to the base. Unarmed, likely to be shunned by the Rakyat, and in a dark, unfamiliar forest, an attempt at escape looked very much like suicide at this point. Whether he liked it or not, Jason was stuck with Vaas until he found a better option.

“You're back!”

Jason nearly jumped out of his skin as he heard Vaas exclaim at his side. A hand was on his shoulder the next second, and Jason whipped his head to see Vaas grinning at him and carrying a bloated hide bag at his side.

“Don't touch me,” Jason said through his teeth as he jerked his shoulder away from Vaas' hand.

“Oh, right,” Vaas said, pensive even through his mirth. He released Jason's shoulder before continuing, “I was just- I was kind of thinking I would have to send people in after you for a moment there.”

Jason wrinkled his nose slightly. “I was gone for five fucking minutes,” he grumbled.

“And based on your track record, Jason, you can do a fuckton of things that make me really unhappy in five minutes.”

“Yeah, well, I didn't.”

“Great! We might get along after all, eh?”

Jason's eyes narrowed as he silently glared at Vaas. No, he wanted to say, no, they would not get along, and they never would.

Eventually, Vaas spoke again, ignoring Jason's expression, “I thought that maybe you didn't like, you know, eating around assholes who tried to put you six feet under for a while. And I don't blame you, I would be pretty fucking tense too, but, you know, they're scared shitless around you too, and I think-” He stopped abruptly and shook his head. “Back at the fucking ranch, I grabbed some things to make a bit of dinner and we can eat in our place. That sound good, blanquito?”

Who said it bothers me?

They're scared of me?

Our place?

“ _You_ cook?” Somehow that was the most surprising out of all that Vaas had just told him.

“Sure! Eggs, pig, fish.” Vaas snickered under his breath, “One time I had a guy eat his-” Vaas' smile abruptly dropped into a frown, “I'll- tell you that story later. Maybe. Come on, let's go.” Without waiting for Jason to follow, Vaas started back towards the shack where Jason had been held before.

Jason might have been disgusted, but he had to admit that eggs did sound kind of nice right then. Those three strips of bacon had only managed to whet his appetite and some more protein might just sate it. Admitting silent defeat, Jason hurried after Vaas.

Vaas killed his brother, Jason reminded himself as they walked. Vaas was in human trafficking. Vaas tortured people for his own sick entertainment. Vaas went to Hoyt by choice. Vaas deserved to die in the most painful, drawn-out method possible. Vaas could play caretaker all he liked, but Jason promised himself to hold on to the rage he held against the pirate lord no matter what.

“Hey, Jason?” Vaas said as they reached the ladder leading back up the small drop-off.

“What do you want?” Jason snapped.

“If you want to ask something, just- just fucking anything, you know- well, you can.” Vaas started, looking back towards Jason, but tilting his head from side to side with his words, “And I won't get pissed at you. Or I'll try not to. Promise.”

Jason paused. Of all the things that Vaas had to say when he was trying to hate the estranged Rakyat.

“Thanks. I guess,” Jason said. A thousand questions had entered his mind, but he denied that Vaas could have any benign intent behind his offer, and thus he kept silent.

“It's the very fucking least I owe you, Jason Brody.” Vaas muttered as he started climbing the ladder.

Jason wondered for a moment if Vaas had meant to speak aloud for a moment before following Vaas up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was always weird to me that there didn't seem to be a single proper layered rainforest on Rook Island. I mean, I know "jungle" is a pretty broad term and the island's exact location is vague, but it still struck me as odd because Rook is undeniably right around Indonesia, an area where there could and should be a decent amount of tropical rainforest on them. Maybe the devs were going for a temperate rainforest, but that doesn't make sense because temperate rainforests aren't known to occur between the Pacific and Indian oceans while tropical rainforests are. It's frustrating. I just hope it it's not too jarring to have a very different environment than what the game has taught us to be used to.
> 
> I'm also thinking about having a mini-chapter (maybe not so mini) after this with Vaas and Jason having a dinner conversation, but I might just go straight to the next thing I have planned so that we can get to all the fun drama and headcanons faster. Haven't decided quite yet, but I'll see what I can come up with.


	4. Deaf Ears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if I fully like how this turned out, but I felt like Jason and Vaas needed something like this before the events of the next chapter.

Dinner was going smoother than Jason had expected. Jason was on his third plate of scrambled eggs, and was only just then slowing down. Vaas sat across from him, the remaining innards of a mango gripped loosely in his hand as he watched his captive. At first, Jason had easily ignored Vaas' constant staring as he shoveled eggs into his mouth with a plastic fork. No longer half-starved, however, Jason was starting to become unnerved by Vaas' gaze. Jason really hated Vaas' eyes. The contrast of his skin tone and their whites made them look unnaturally large, and it creeped the hell out of Jason when Vaas made them go wide. It was like staring down Latino Norman Bates, but way too personal and so much worse.

Even if he had no real interest in speaking with Vaas, Jason had been told that he could ask questions. Small talk might at least take some of his focus off of the staring.

“So, what's the deal with the music on the radio?”

“It's music. Nice to listen to if you're driving, eh?” Vaas asked him, cheek in his palm and smiling lazily.

“No, I mean, it's the same thing over and over. Do you know where it's broadcasting from?”

“It's broadcasting from the towers. They're not just good for maps and stuff,” Vaas explained, straightening himself up, eyes half-lidded, “Me and some guys picked out some songs, put them on a, uh, a player, computer thing, hooked it up with the towers, and now the radios have something to pick up. It's a lot better than the static- fucking nothing we used to get.”

“You were all high, weren't you?”

“You're catching on, Jason.” Vaas said with an approving nod.

Jason made to go back to his eggs, already loathing any further notion of speaking with Vaas. A sudden thought, however, made him whip his head back up and blurt out, “Okay, really, why haven't you just drugged and raped me half to death already?”

Vaas stared at him as though he had grown a third eye in the span of a second. “Why would I do that?” he asked, eyes darting back and forth, “Do you want me to?”

“No!” Jason snapped, “But that's what you fucking did before! You probably have more of that drug, why not use it?”

“I, uh, I do, yeah,” Vaas admitted, “But you don't get it. That's not the fucking point, blanquito.”

“Then what is the point?”

Vaas frowned and tapped the table with his thumb for a moment before replying, “I don't want you to hate me.”

“Bullshit,” Jason retorted, “When you first talked to me, you said you wanted me to fill some kind of hole in your heart or whatever. Now you just don't want me to hate you?”

“Chico astuto,” Vaas rumbled fondly, “The thing is Jason- Having you around like this it's- it's just... Fuck.”

“I have all night,” Jason said, folding his arms, “Hell, I have all the time in the world now.”

“I don't know. That's the truth. I don't have a real fucking 'why' for you.” Vaas rubbed his right temple, sighing, “I like you being here. I just know that I really don't want you to hate me anymore.”

“Well, you're fucking failing if that's what you're trying to get at.” Jason said, impatience finally catching up with him, “I hate you. You've put me through a lot of shit, and you're still treating me like a fucking animal. That's your fault, your problem, not mine. As long as you keep me here, I'll hate you. Get over it.”

“Would you stop hating me if I let you go?” Vaas asked, averting Jason's gaze.

“Yeah, because that will make up for murdering my brother, and then trying to kill me,” Jason scoffed.

“Would you not hate me so much?”

“Only because I wouldn't have to deal with you constantly.”

Vaas shrugged hopefully. “That's something.”

“Go to hell, Vaas.”

“Mm, one day, blanquito. And then you'll come after me, and we'll dance in the fires and scream together for eternity. And it will be so, so fucking beautiful.” Vaas looked back up at Jason, the whites of his eyes threatening to swallow his irises, “'cos we were meant to be together.”

Jason wrinkled his nose at the thought. An eternity with Vaas sounded a lot like Hell.

“Didn't take you as a believer in fate,” Jason said, appetite now completely gone.

Vaas shrugged and leaned back in his chair, “Fate, chance, luck, it all fucking blends up here.” he prodded at his head, “I just look at you and you're- You're so... Fuck's sake.”

“What? I'm so what?” Jason pressed.

Vaas stared at Jason through cloudy eyes for a moment before they strayed down to Jason's plate. “You done with those?” he asked.

“You told me that I could ask questions,” Jason gritted out, “What was that about never lying to me?”

“I told you, I don't have an answer for everything, blanquito.” Vaas said, tone bordering on a snarl. “You're not the only one dealing with shit here.”

“Yeah, but I'm the only one being held here, so I think it's fair to say that I'm going through worse shit.”

Vaas gave him a glare and Jason thought for a moment that he would erupt into a rant. But, after a moment, he took in a deep breath, and eased his expression. “Look, I just don't have a fucking answer right now,” he said, twirling his left wrist at and flexing his fingers, “I'll tell you when I can. Okay?”

Jason shoved his plate towards Vaas. “No, it's not okay.”

“Then I'll just tell you when I can anyway.” Vaas told him. He placed his mango pit on the plate before taking the dish, standing up, and heading towards the door.

“Get some sleep, blanquito.” Vaas said to him before adding in a quieter, almost sing-song tone, “Tu ojos hermosos tienes carecer de sueño.” With that, Vaas finally exited the room.

Jason had no idea what Vaas had just said, but he had to admit the he was a bit tired after taking in his new surroundings. The food in his stomach only increased his desire for sleep. He stood from his seat, not bothering to push it back in, and trudged a pace towards his bed. With a heavy sigh, he flopped down upon his pelt-covered cot and let his eyes close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More substantial things happening in the next chapter (already being written), I promise. I've got in mind a bit of action and some glimpses into the world of Rook Island after the deaths of Citra and Hoyt.


	5. Getting Out

Jason woke up as the sun's first rays peeked through the shack's windows. Sitting up, he stretched his arms up above his head with a yawn before he shook the sleep from his eyes. He looked down at his arms, still clad in the mercenary colors, and frowned, suddenly realizing how uncomfortable he felt in the outfit. After taking off the gloves, Jason pulled down his sleeves, revealing his now complete tatau. He took a moment to look over the markings with guilty satisfaction. Admittedly, the “path of the warrior” had served him well on Rook, and somehow, a tattoo seemed the most fitting a marker for his accomplishment. A permanent fixture of his body, intricate and on display for all to see. Psychotic as Citra and her ilk had turned out to be, Jason could not bring himself to resent the designs that they had painted upon his flesh.

As he observed, however, something out of the ordinary caught his eye. The top end of the heron branch was more a dull gray than black. He squinted at it and brought it closer to his eyes. Was the design supposed to fade like that under the skin? He had had the faux-tribal tattoo on his right arm for longer than his tatau and it had never faded. Even as Jason rolled up his other sleeve, he saw that it still had not faded at all, as far as he could tell. Jason supposed that the ink used by the natives might be different than the ink used in tattoo parlors somehow. Less permanent somehow. Of course, Vaas might know what the issue was, but Jason really did not want to ask Vaas about something as personal as his tattoos.

As he pulled his sleeves back up, the door to the cabin flew open.

“Guess what, Jason?” Vaas said to him as he stepped in, smiling like he had something particularly “fun” on his mind.

Jason only stared coldly at him, hardly feeling up to tolerating Vaas this early in the morning.

After a moment of silence, Vaas answered for him, “You're going hunting!”

And here Jason was, staring at Vaas with the least pleased face he could manage. “You're fucking with me.”

“No, no, no, Jason, of course not.”

“You are,” Jason insisted, folding his arms.

“No, seriously.”

Jason snorted. “I really don't feel like dealing with this right now, Vaas.”

“Listen to me.” Vaas strode over to him, prompting Jason to stand up. “There's a little place not too far away,” Vaas continued, “I don't know what it used to be, probably- somebody's house. A fucking- workshop maybe. Like I said, I don't know, but the point is, there's a fuckton of deer around there, and some dogs that hang around and go after the deer.”

“Out of this forest?” Jason asked, incredulous.

“Yeah, that's right. I thought that maybe you'd like to get away for a while. Have some time to yourself.”

“What's the catch?” Jason asked.

“Sharp,” Vaas praised with a nod, “I can't be near you when you have a something that you could kill me with. I don't want you to just fucking kill me before we, uh, figure things out. So you'll have a machete in a hut there, and you put it back when you're done. You stay around there, you're good, you're fucking perfect. You go out too far, you're going to have some problems. You keep the knife and try to come back, that's gonna be a problem too. You got it, blanquito?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Jason would have taken a shot at Vaas' failure to allow him a gun, but he did have to admit that his machetes had always been his most reliable and lethal weapons, all things considered.

“Don't just fucking say that to my face, Jason, I am trusting you with this. And believe me, you really don't want to go far anyway. Especially not dressed like that.”

Jason looked down at his mercenary outfit and then back at Vaas. For once, he could see some validity in Vaas' comment. “I'll stay close and I won't bring the knife back,” he said. Whether that would end up being a lie or not, Jason would have to see.

Vaas gave him a satisfied smile before turning towards the door. “Come on then, I'll walk you through the trees.”

*****

How Vaas was able to navigate on the forest floor, Jason could not understand. Away from the clearing, walking through the jungle was like walking around in the dead of night with not even the light of the moon to help navigate. And yet Vaas strutted through the forest like he had memorized the place, only occasionally having to feel for nearby for trees and vegetation. Jason, on the other hand, had already walked into several spider webs, tripped over roots, and very nearly lost Vaas in the darkness. After the last incident, Vaas had grabbed his wrist and refused to let him go because, according to Vaas, “If I lost you, Jason, we would both be in this fucking forest forever.” Jason had not tried to argue.

Finally, though, the forest was thinning out and Jason could once more see two feet in front of his face. Jason stole a glance back towards the thicker rainforest and marveled at how far up the vegetation went. It looked almost like an entire layer of bushes was growing halfway up the trunks of the tallest trees when in reality, those bushes were merely the crowns of younger trees, slowly racing towards the heights of their older companions.

Jason was about to wonder if this particular natural race would ever end when Vaas spoke up.

“Uh, let's see,” Vaas muttered as he looked up at the sky, “You should- head a bit west from here and you'll be where you want to go.” 

“Okay, I can do that.”

“Good,” Vaas chirped before turning and starting back towards the forest, “Don't have too much fun without me, Jason.”

A thought suddenly occurred to Jason.

“Uh, Vaas?”

“Si, blanquito?” Vaas said, tilting his head back to look at Jason.

“How do you expect me to get back?” Not that Jason wanted to go back. He just wanted to know if Vaas had thought this through.

“Some of my guys are hanging around nearby. They know what's going down. You find some of them when you're done, they'll get you back. And they'll find you if you're out long enough so if you can't find them just- wait.”

Before Jason could say anything more, Vaas was heading back the way that they had come, leaving Jason to find his own way.

Pirates were hanging around the area? Jason snorted in frustration.

“West,” Jason said to himself. Assuming his navigation skills had not given out on him, Jason knew that that west would be opposite the sun's current position, meaning that he was supposed to head straight. He took a deep breath before starting towards his destination.

Surely enough, after about ten minutes of walking, Jason came upon a bungalow. The roof of the place had been blown off long ago, and what Jason presumed were the remains of it were strewn about the area. As he got closer, Jason noticed that many bricks that had made up the walls were crumbling and falling away onto the jungle floor. He stepped through where the doorway probably was at some point and found a room barren of all but a single table and a metal bed frame. On the former lay a simple machete, beckoning Jason to take it.

Jason obliged, picking up the weapon by its hilt. He touched a finger to its blade before a sharp nip of pain made him retract. Freshly sharpened. It was like Vaas was begging him to raise hell. Or maybe Vaas really did think that giving Jason some freedom would lull him into complacency.

In any case, Jason figured that exploring his surroundings before making any certain decisions about his plan of escape couldn't hurt. He stepped out of the bungalow again, and swiveled his head around to take in his surroundings. Nothing out of the ordinary for Rook. And a group of deer feeding not far away. A rush of adrenaline flowed up through Jason's veins at the sight of the creatures. Maybe hunting for a while would not be such a bad idea.

He set his sights on one in particular, a lithe doe grazing aloof from her herd. Presuming that he stayed downwind of her and avoided making too much noise, the doe would be easy enough to take down. Jason maneuvered about so that he could approach from behind his target whose snout was deep in the grass, still moving slowly enough that his form would not cause alarm among the group. He kept his eyes wide open and even as they began to dry out he refused to blink. Even one instant without focus could ruin his chances. One wrong motion and everything would be ruined. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of slow, careful steps, Jason was close enough to pounce.

Before she could get a glimpse of him, Jason was upon the deer, sinking his blade into its back.

She let out a desperate call at the sudden pain and made to run. Jason held fast on the blade, however, and the doe's motions only served to carve through her flesh and bones. Though the wound was starting to bleed badly, Jason gripped tighter, unfazed by the animal's pain. It took a few seconds of holding on and letting the doe drag him before it collapsed, legs writhing awkwardly in the air. Jason then tore his machete out of the wound, ripping another cry from the doe's throat before sinking it in to her neck. At last, her screams quieted and her body went limp as thick blood poured out onto the ground.

Jason stood up, the sound of his own breath deafening in his ears. At the very least, he knew that he could still hunt for himself.

Jason grabbed the deer's corpse by its feet and dragged it over to a young tree nearby. He hauled it up to sling it over one of the tree's branches. Not the best way to keep it from being taken while he continued on his way, but if it worked for leopards, it might work for Jason too.

The commotion that the deer had made likely would have scared off any prey animals for miles, but the predators of the island would no doubt come sniffing around momentarily. A good enough time to start looking around properly. Noting the direction back to the bungalow, Jason started off to scout the area.

For the first half an hour or so, Jason felt like he was walking in circles. No structures, no clearings, no people, just the occasional bird and lots of trees. And, for that matter, most of the trees looked the same aside from a few tiny differences here and there. In the rainforest he could barely see and it made sense for him to find nothing, but out here, the lack of discovery struck Jason as odd. For its remote location and largely untouched wilds, around every corner of Rook, Jason had always found people or at least signs of former human life.

It felt like hours, but at last Jason came upon something. Among several patches of bamboo nearby, he spotted a few spots of deep red that occasionally shifted about. Knowing very well that that particular shade could only mean pirates, Jason crouched down and approached carefully, curious to see what exactly what they were up to. He crept into the bamboo, keeping at a safe distance in consideration of his own rather conspicuous outfit.

Just as he had expected, there were a few of Vaas' men ahead of him. They lounged in the grass, obscured by bamboo and ferns. One stood out immediately to Jason as his face and skin tone were both closer to those of a Rakyat than those of a typical pirate. He must have been one of the Rakyat defectors that Vaas had mentioned before.

Another had a much longer mohawk than Jason had come to expect from any pirate. It drooped backwards against gravity as its owner was lying on his back. Jason would have guessed that the guy's hair would jostle slightly with even the slightest head movements.

The third was sitting cross-legged, smoking a joint of some variety. He had lighter skin than many of the Latino pirates Jason had seen, and sported a pair of aviator sunglasses. Or maybe they were just dark goggles. Jason could hardly tell as the guy was the furthest from him.

A breeze brought their words to Jason as he tilted his head closer.

“Vaas? Soft? ” Mohawk was saying, “Have you ever seen him lose it? He's a lot of things, but soft isn't one of them.”

“Seriously, though, have you seen how he looks at Snow White?” Rakyat asked, “He's fucking crazy. Like, not how he's always crazy, but really fucking crazy.”

“Come on, man, you think our boss is in love with that little gringo?” Sunglasses scoffed, “Snow makes him horny, really fucking horny. Big fucking deal, it happens.”

“And 'cause he's horny means we can't make krokodil anymore?”

“Krokodil's a shit drug for selling and making,” Mohawk said, “We stopped with it 'cause it was shit, not 'cause of Brody.”

“Maybe, but he went to alotta trouble to get Brody's friends off the island not dead.”

“It's not like he's never done weird shit before,” Sunglasses said with a shrug.

“You don't get it, man, you've never been in love.” Rakyat mused, “It's like being high: it makes you crazy in the head, it feels really great while it's going on, and you regret it when it's over.”

Mohawk piped up again then, “I've never regretted getting high.”

“That's because the hardest shit you've ever done was coke,” Sunglasses retorted.

“Nothing wrong with sticking to plants, asshole. It's better than being a fucking methhead.”

“Just 'cause I like meth-”

“Hey!” A new voice called from behind them.

The trio immediately hopped up,

Another pirate, this one sporting a combination of headband, sunglasses, and heavy jacket had approached through the bamboo. “Get your lazy asses up and moving! We don't need boss on a rampage because you fucks couldn't help keep an eye on Brody!”

Oh, God. They were watching him, or at least trying to. Jason briefly wondered if anyone could see him right then, or if someone had been watching him while he had been stalking the doe from before.

The three muttered incoherent apologies and reassurances before hurrying off past, presumably, one of Vaas' higher-ups.

“Ay,” The man sighed as soon as the others were gone, “Rodeado de idiotas.” He shook his head once before continuing on his way through the bamboo.

As soon as he was out of view, Jason maneuvered out of from the bamboo and sprinted in the opposite direction.

Four words flowed through Jason's mind: don't think, get away. He could not afford focus on the possibility that someone might spot him; he just had to keep in mind that the pirates had probably lost track of him. Besides, if he ran fast enough, there was no way that an individual, let alone an entire group, could track him without him detecting them. If Jason could spot them, he could probably pick them off. He had proven himself a better stalker than any of Vaas' men time and time again, but assuming that they were carrying guns, it would definitely be better to avoid them.

As Jason ran, he came upon a paved miracle: a road curving through the forest. Glancing around nervously, Jason approached the road, his heart fluttering. If he followed it, he would get to a Rakyat outpost or even a town sooner or later. He could get help. He could get away from Vaas. What's more, just then, a car was barreling down the road in his direction, and none of the passengers appeared to be scarlet clad. Jason would not have another chance in a long time so, all risks be damned he hurried out into the middle of the road.

“Hey!” he called, waving his arms.

The car slowed as it approached, thank God. That was all Jason after all that he had been through, to be run over. What's more, passengers looked very much like Rakyat warriors and were carrying guns. Jason could not believe his luck.

“Oh, thank God,” Jason breathed. “I really need a ride, I've been stuck with that psycho for days now, and I need to-”

Jason stopped as he got a good look at the group. The looks that they gave him were not as welcoming as he had thought they might be. A few glares, some frowns, a couple shocked gazes, but nothing in the way of familiarity. They all hopped out of the car, one after the other, eyes trained on Jason.

“Uh, okay, I know you probably haven't seen me in a while and I'm dressed like-”

“Pengkhianat!” one of them barked.

“What did he say?” Jason glanced around at the rest of the group, hoping for an answer.

“Coward!” another cried out before marching up to Jason, “You abandoned our people and now you return to our island to mock us!”

Jason put out his hands and backed off. “Whoa now, I never even-”

“Maut bagi pembelot!” a third shouted before rushing towards him, winding back his rifle in one hand.

“No, no, no, no-!”

He felt the gun hit the side of his head, and for a slow few seconds, Jason was falling. His machete slipped out of his fingers and must have landed nearby. Jason himself landed on his side as his vision blurred.

Above him, murmurs in an alien language passed between the Rakyat as the stood over him. Contempt. Uncertainty. Anger. Jason may not have understood the words, but he processed the emotions even in his inhibited state. If he died here, well, better to the blade of a warrior than under Vaas' watch.

Shouts were coming from farther away soon after. Harsher and more accented voices than those of the Rakyat. Pirates. Great, now Jason definitely was not going anywhere.

Jason sluggishly rolled onto his back, blinking. More shouting, still some from the pirates, but now from the Rakyat as well. No gunshots though. Jason would have expected gunshots by then, but all they seemed to be doing was yelling back and forth at each other. He tried to tilt his head up and caught one of the Rakyat prodding a finger in the chest of one of the pirates.

“She is dead because of him! We demand he be handed over now!” The Rakyat said, his words seemingly out of sync with his lips.

The pirate in turn shoved his opponent away and shouted back, “You're not supposed to even be driving through here and you're making demands of us?! You should be thankful that we haven't killed you like dogs!”

“You tried to destroy our people and you call us dogs?! We will not stand for this, pirate; you will not keep us from the justice we deserve!”

Skull feeling too heavy to keep off the ground any longer, Jason finally let his neck go limp after only a few seconds. The shouting match faded into mere white noise, no different than the rustle of leaves in the wind. Drowsy and delirious, Jason allowed his eyes to close and unconsciousness to overtake him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The machete depicted in-game probably wouldn't be able to do much stabbing considering its shape. It looks more like it would be exclusively conducive to slicing, which is what usually is the case. However, since Jason never seemed to have trouble stabbing pirates with it during certain takedowns, I figure that it's not a big stretch to have him use it to stab here.
> 
> As usual, critique, corrections, and general comments are very, very welcome.
> 
> Edit: Upon realizing that Indonesian is a much better choice for the small bits of dialogue that were in (very poorly translated) Maori, I've changed those two pieces. Hopefully the translation is slightly better, but God help me, I don't know anything about Indo-Pacific languages and am relying on online dictionaries and translators. Again, if anybody knows more about this than me, for the love of God, correct me.


	6. Boiling Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavy headcanons ahead! Fear for your lives as there is no turning back now.
> 
> In all seriousness, though, I wanted this chapter to be as perfect as I could possibly make it. I'm still not absolutely sure if I succeeded or not, but I hope at the very least it's pretty good. 
> 
> Once again, thanks to my co-author Gaiusan for not only helping me edit, but for easing my never ending worries during the process of writing.

Jason had one foot still firmly in a dream as he started to awaken. His mind's eye saw a barren landscape tinted dark blue, but he could pick out shadows that darted away as he stepped towards them. They whispered to him, skittering away just before he could touch them. Jason opened his mouth to call to them, but no words would come out. Something told him that they were heading somewhere, but Jason had no idea of where it could be or why they were going there. He tried to follow them, but they always moved just slightly faster than he could run and he simply could not keep up. They seemed to simply disappear after a certain distance. Despite this, Jason continued to tirelessly pursue each one he came upon.

In the middle of chasing what must have been the dozenth shadow, a slight sting began to prick at both of Jason's wrists so subtly that he did not bother to investigate at first. Only when the sting worsened into a biting pain did Jason finally look down to catch sight of fire beginning to consume both of his arms from the wrist up. No light or heat came from the flames, however, and Jason only realized the gravity of the situation after staring entranced at the fire for what felt like hours. A scream was about to rip from his throat when suddenly a dark pair of hands gripped his lower arms. Jason turned his gaze upward and found himself staring into a pair of serene blue eyes. Looking at the apparition's expression, Jason did not register it as Vaas immediately, but there was no mistaking the full face of his tormenter. He tried to tear away, but found his feet rooted to the spot and Vaas' grip one of iron. If any of his shouts were audible, this Vaas was deaf to them. Even as the fire climbed up his arms, he lacked any response, seemingly content to burn with Jason. It seemed almost fitting to see Vaas burning as though he was used to being lit on fire. Jason found himself unable to look away from the other man's figure, then highlighted by tongues of cold flames.

“Jason?” Vaas said, lips moving, but expression unchanging, like a simple puppet painted in Vaas' image. “Jason? You okay?”

He jolted out of sleep then, pulling air into his still-burning lungs. His eyes went wide, but Jason saw his surroundings through a fog. A throbbing pain in his head soon unveiled itself as well, to which Jason could only wince, still lacking even the energy to move his limbs with accuracy.

His vision cleared gradually, revealing a barred window that streamed in the light of the late afternoon. He was back in the damn hut. Whether he should have been relieved or enraged, Jason was not sure. 

“Jason?”

And there was Vaas. He could not say that he was surprised, but Jason was really not in the mood for the pirate lord.

“You're awake! Finally!” Vaas exclaimed, leaning over him so that Jason could see his face. “You squirm in your sleep, you know that? You should tell me about your dreams sometime. And you grind your teeth too. That's not good for you, Jason, you should do something about that.”

“Wha?” Jason slurred, barely registering Vaas' words.

“Grinding your teeth, it's bad,” Vaas repeated. “So who gave you that goose egg?”

“What?”

“Benny was talking some bullshit about Rakyat guys going after you, but if I know him, he might be lying to cover his ass. Did my guys touch you, hit you, hurt you, fucking anything?” Vaas' expression hardened and he squinted his eyes. “If they touched you, I will personally cut their fucking dicks off! Did they touch you, Jason?!”

“No! Stop fucking yelling, my head hurts,” Jason said, squeezing his eyes shut and grabbing at his forehead.

Vaas blinked and his eyes darted from side to side. “Shit. That's what I was...”

As Vaas disappeared out out of Jason's view, something damp and frigid was pressed against the side of Jason's head. He hissed at the sudden sting.

“Ah! Warning, for the love of God!”

“Sorry, Jason, sorry,” Vaas whispered, ducking back into Jason's peripheral vision, “I just- want you to be okay. Couldn't fucking live if you weren't okay.”

“I'm fine,” Jason insisted, grabbing at the cold thing that had been pressed to his head. A formerly frozen water bottle he realized as he nudged Vaas' fingers off of it, replacing them with his own. Only then did he realize what Vaas meant by “goose egg.” A large lump had formed around where he had been struck with the Rakyat's gun. “Benny or whoever wasn't lying, I just ran into some Rakyat warriors and I guess- I guess they think that I betrayed them.”

“Oh, yeah, probably should have mentioned that,” Vaas said, cocking his head and averting his eyes from Jason.

“Mentioned what?” Jason said through his teeth.

“That the Rakyat might be a little split on whether or not you killed Citra in cold blood right now.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Story goes that after you told Citra to fuck off after she tried to make you kill your friends, you stabbed her, right in the fucking heart.” Vaas gestured to his own chest. “Now, I can believe you stabbing me like that, but my sister? No, no, she had you wrapped around her little finger too long for you to just fucking kill her like that.”

Jason shook his head slowly as he processed Vaas' explanation. The Rakyat thought that he had betrayed them? The same people who he had fought so hard and lost so much for? How could they even think for a second that Jason would ever lay a hand on Citra? It was not as though the only ones present at Citra's death were Jason, his friends, and Dennis. They would never lie to each other about something so significant, would they? They were supposed to have some code of honor. At least, that was what Jason had thought, though, come to think of it, no one had ever really told him how a warrior was supposed to act beyond following his instincts and defending his people.

“No, no, that's not- She jumped in front of me. When Dennis tried to stab me,” Jason recalled weakly.

His own allies hated him now, Jason realized, for something he hadn't even done. If they only hated him for leaving them, that would be fine, but for “murdering” Citra? Jason felt the sudden urge to grab that stupid little radio off of the coffee table and fling it across the room.

Vaas nodded copiously at his story. “Yeah, that sounds more like you, hermano.”

“Goddammit.” Jason rumbled as he tried to sit up.

Vaas pressed a flat palm on his chest, and pressed him back down to the bed.

“No, no, Jason, stay there, you have to-”

“I don't have to do shit! Get your fucking hands off me!” Jason shouted, a sudden burst of energy coming over him. With more vigor than before, Jason hauled himself upright and swung his legs off of the bed, boots hitting the floor with a solid thump.

“What's the matter, Jason?” Vaas asked, frowning at his captive.

What was the matter? What was the matter?! Everything was the matter!

Jason stood up and turned from Vaas, pacing towards the back wall.

He was stuck. So, so stuck between his worst enemy and a people that now hated him. And he couldn't do anything about it. He brought his hands to his face, and gritted his teeth. He was helpless. Pathetic and helpless. But even more than that, he was angry.

“What the hell is your deal?!” Jason snapped, whipping around the face Vaas, arms tense at his sides. “I don't fucking like you! I don't want to be anywhere near you! You fucking monster!”

Vaas' eyes widened at Jason then narrowed into a glare. “Don't you ever fucking call me-!” He cut off as Jason cast the water bottle at him, forcing him to duck to the side.

“Shut the fuck up!” Jason spat, “Do you know what I see whenever I hear you talking, Vaas?”

Vaas paused, gaping slightly at what Jason had just done. “Who the fuck do you think you-?!”

“I see my brother's face!” Jason shrieked.

The glare disappeared from Vaas' face and his shoulders dropped.

“Grant's face!” Jason reiterated, breath heavy, “I see him bleeding out on the dirt, struggling to breathe!” Jason's eyes watered slightly as the words came out. “You killed him, Vaas! You killed him, and you tried to sell the rest as slaves! You let Keith get raped over and over and fucking over again!” Jason stepped towards Vaas, but the pirate lord shrank away from him. “And you don't even fucking try to understand what's wrong with that! Why I hate you for that! You are a monster and that is all you will ever be! You kill, you rape, you take slaves! And you fucking love every goddamn second of it! So, fuck you if you think for a goddamn second-!” Jason stopped, suddenly realizing that something about Vaas had changed suddenly. He seemed smaller than normal, more vulnerable, hurt even. Strangely un-Vaas-like.

“Are- are you crying?”

“No, I'm- I'm leaking fucking ocean from my eyes.” Vaas retorted, wiping fluid away from his face. “Fuck- Jason, you son of-” He breathed in deep and looked Jason in the eye, “You know, you're- you're fucking right. I'm a monster. I- I just, I hide it, I don't like it, so I try to fucking be okay with it, you know? Crazy fucking pirate killing people like they're pigs. You think that's okay with me? Here?” He cupped at his heart, staring at Jason with wide, murky eyes. “Okay, maybe it is now. You do horrible shit long enough, it gets to be a stupid little fucking game. But I don't think that that's me. It wasn't always like that. That came later. After I- fuck, not after I left Citra, when I got in with Hoyt.” Vaas sighed and tipped his head downward. “It was what I had to do.”

Truthfully, Jason could hardly imagine Vaas as anything but a violent, psychopathic murderer, but Citra and Dennis had both mentioned that Vaas was different somehow at some point. “Don't- don't you try to bullshit me. It was your own fucking decision to fall in with Hoyt.”

Vaas looked up at Jason, eyes narrowed, and echoed his words, “My decision?”

“You left the Rakyat! You let yourself get lured away by money and drugs and power.”

“Lured away?” Vaas said, scrunching his brow. “Who told you that?”

“Your sister,” Jason hissed.

“My sis-?” Vaas stared at him for a moment before something seemed to click in his head and his eyes went wide. “Shit. I am fucking stupid, of course she told you that. Bitch.”

Vaas sat down on the pelt-covered cot and patted a spot next to him. “Sit down, Jason.”

“Why should I?” Jason challenged.

“Just fucking do it!” Vaas snapped before blinking and taking another deep breath. “Please.”

After a moment's pause, Jason reluctantly did as he was told, figuring that Vaas would go away faster if he did as he was told.

“Jason, I fucked up. Badly. And a lot,” Vaas confessed, meeting Jason's eyes. “I fucked up falling in with Hoyt. I fucked up not telling you things plain when you first started wrecking my shit. I really fucked up shooting your brother.” He lowered his voice to a whisper, “And I fucked up not killing Citra when I could have.”

Jason wrinkled his nose. “You would think that-”

“Sh, sh, sh, no, you don't fucking understand, Jason. And I get that. You wouldn't fucking understand. I haven't been telling you the shit that you need to know.” 

“I know everything I need to know about you. I know you hurt me and my friends. I know you abandoned your people-”

“No, no, no! I didn't just fucking pick up and leave the Rakyat for Hoyt, Jason. Hoyt was a fucking asshole, even then I knew that, I was not that fucking stupid. Hell, I was doing your job for a long fucking time. But you know, you don't think very clearly when your sister kills your parents because you won't fuck her.”

Jason's glare dissipated into a wide-eyed gape. “What?” he croaked.

“I couldn't believe it either. That's why I ran. I couldn't deal with it.”

“Wait, wait, rewind, go back, what happened with you and Citra?”

“Let me put this in plain words for you: a few years back when I was still Rakyat, she wanted me to have sex with her to make some kind of ultimate spawn or some shit. I didn't want to, 'cause, you know, we grew up together, she's my sister, it was fucking creepy. So she killed my parents while I wasn't looking. Said something about finally making me a 'real' Rakyat.”

“Why would she kill her own family for that?”

“Not her family, mine.”

“But she was your-”

“She wasn't my blood sister, Jason. I'm Latino, she's pure Rakyat, we have totally fucking different accents. This never occurred to you?”

Oh. Well, that made a lot of sense, Jason had to admit. He briefly wondered how he had not put those pieces together before just then.

“Well- I, uh, didn't notice much difference,” Jason admitted, eyes shifting just momentarily away from Vaas'.

Very gradually, Vaas tipped his head to the side, one of his eyebrows cocked. “You didn't notice the difference?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“Remind me to play to play Captain Obvious from now on because your head is even thicker than I thought.”

“Oh, fuck you, I never heard many accents before getting here.”

“Not- not the fucking point,” Vaas said, waving his hands away from his face as though pushing the topic away. “The point is, Jason, that Citra is not my real sister and she killed my only real family.”

“Why do you always call her your sister then?”

“'cause she was.”

“But- she-”

“She did some really bad shit to me, Jason, but she was still my family. I mean, I wasn't related to her, but she was more family than my real family sometimes. I loved her like I loved my parents and she wouldn't let me have both. Like, I had to fucking choose, but I didn't really have a choice. It was bullshit.” Vaas shook his head thoughtfully. “But she was still my sister.”

Jason bit his lip, pondering Vaas' words. Everything that he was saying did make a lot of sense in retrospect, but, if nothing else, Jason did not want to believe him. If what Vaas was saying was true, then that would have made Citra the grand manipulator for as long as Jason had known her up until her death. She had used Jason to rid herself of a monster that she created. And she had told Jason that she loved him.

“Why should I believe you?”

Vaas tilted his head back and forth and asked, “Have I ever lied to you?”

“I- don't think so,” Jason admitted.

“No, I haven't. Have I ever acted really stupid? Like not fucking around stupid, actual stupid.”

“Not that I know of,” Jason said slowly, averting his eyes.

“So what makes more sense, me being a real fucking asshole and abandoning my sister for crack or me freaking the fuck out over my sister killing my parents and running to the bad end of the island?'

Goddammit. Vaas was telling the truth. Jason clenched his fists and squeezed his eyes shut. How could he have been so stupid? Between Vaas and now Citra, Jason could have erupted with pure rage. And yet, at the same time, Jason felt more comfortable then than he had been moments ago. It was as though something in the air had been cleared. But Vaas would not get the satisfaction of hearing him say anything positive so Jason simply sat there, glowering at his feet.

“Thank you,” Vaas said, breaking the brief silence.

“What for?” Jason asked flatly.

“For ending my sister when I was too pussy to do it myself.”

“I didn't-”

“She took a knife for you. Close enough.”

“I didn't really want her to die,” Jason said under his breath. “I was pissed off, but I didn't want to kill her.”

“Sometimes we have to do what's best for the people we love, you know?” Vaas said, angling himself towards Jason absentmindedly. “What was best for Citra was to not let her fuck with anyone else.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“And another thing: I'm sorry.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “What for? Raping me? Trying to kill me? Torturing-”

“About your brother.”

Jason swallowed thickly, biting his lip. How dare Vaas just apologize for that? Like his words would make any difference. Like he could fix what had happened.

“I don't forgive you.”

“I know. I wouldn't forgive me either. But I'm sorry.”

Jason buried his face in his hands. Yes, killing Vaas would never have given him Grant back, but at least he would never have had to hear Vaas talk about killing Grant. Maybe even more than he hated Vaas for killing his brother in the first place, Jason hated Vaas for apologizing because it made Vaas seem more human than he had any right to seem. He almost wished that he had not brought it up in the first place.

“I want to be left alone now,” Jason mumbled through his palms.

“Okay, Jason,” Vaas said, standing up. “If you need anything, just scream a little, I'll come running.” As he was opening the door, Vaas spoke once more, “Oh, and, uh, on the table, that's for you. If you want. I thought you'd like it 'cos you just- you seemed really fucking bored in here.”

Jason waited until Vaas had closed the door behind himself and then a few more seconds before looking up towards what was left for him. At first glance, Jason thought the object might have been simply a block of wood, a cruel prank of Vaas', but he soon noticed notches and gaps and seams on the thing. He stood up and took the uneven block into his hand and turned it about in his hand for a few moments. If Jason was not mistaken, he had seen toys like this one before, but he had never learned their proper name. He did know, however, that it was supposed to come apart in a certain way and then get put back together into its original form.

Sitting back down on his cot, Jason tentatively started pulling and pressing at the pieces, looking for one that he could pull out easily. Some slid just slightly while most refused to budge. Jason had never been too good at this sort of puzzle, really. Too much patience required, too complicated to keep his attention. He had loathed the Rubik’s Cube on principle alone even after he had found its secrets on the internet. Just as Jason was about to put the box down for being too damn difficult, one piece slipped gently out of its place in his grip. Jason blinked and stared at the newly separate part, as though it was some sort of miracle. A simple, oddly satisfying miracle. While not too much, it was a start and not a terrible start at that. All Jason needed to do then was keep going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally the tension comes to a boil and we get some true drama. This was a difficult chapter to write. I really wanted everything here to be just right, mostly because a lot of this stuff might be considered touchy as it's heavily speculative. Hopefully I've not stepped on too many landmines. I would elaborate more, but it's too damn late and I am very tired.
> 
> Per usual, comments, corrections, critiques, anything like that are all very welcome and very appreciated.


	7. Vignette Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a dream the other night involving this fic. There were a whole bunch of people who didn't like it for some reason so they were using tiny catapults to fling these little sentient boxes at me. It was freaky.
> 
> I'm working as quickly as I can manage on the next big chapter, but it's not coming along as smoothly as I'd like it to. It's pretty heavy and there's some complicated emotions that I'm trying to get down just right. On top of that, just getting Jason and Vaas from one place to another in an interesting way is proving to be the second biggest pain in the writing process. With luck, there won't be too much more of a wait before the next chapter is out. For the time being, I hope these shorter pieces are an interesting read.

The last few days had gone by in a blur. Maybe it had been a week even. Time was already becoming fuzzy in Jason's head, being cooped up so often with not enough light and no clock to speak of. He could remember few “events”, but nothing stood out as truly significant. 

Not long after the Rakyat incident, Wednesday maybe, Jason asked Vaas if his men had found the doe that he had killed.

“Oh, yeah,” Vaas had said, between bites into a chicken leg that still had the scalded foot attached. “Manu and Dian found that thing and carried it back to one of the camps. Hope you don't mind my guys eating it, but that shit rots fast in the heat if you don't get to it.”

Of all the things that Jason could hold against Vaas, letting his men eat a deer that Jason had killed was not the first offense that he would have thought of.

*****

On Friday, Jason had asked Vaas if he could spectate a game of “swingball.” Vaas' eyes lit up at his interest and he had immediately taken Jason to one of the courts before reluctantly heading off to “take care of important shit.”

The first thing that Jason realized was that the pirates used worn rackets rather than their hands to hit the ball. That much made some sense, considering the ball's size. What really surprised Jason was the attitude given off by the two players. It was surreal really, seeing these pirates who would have slit his throat just weeks ago so invested in such a simple game. The two were sweating like pigs, their muscles were constantly tensed up, and they seemed to have a sixth sense for the exact pattern of the ball's swing. When one of them finally did mess up, he half expected the loser to jump on his opponent and beat him to death. But no, the two just shouted to each other in lively Spanish for a few seconds before starting a new round. Despite initial appearances of hostility, the whole situation came off as oddly warm.

The few spectators aside from himself appeared less than perturbed by Jason's presence. For the most part, they sat quietly, some smoking this or that, and observing the match intently. Only every now and then did any of them call out what could have been either cheers for or jabs at the players' performances. Jason wondered if their silence was in part caused by his presence. For all he knew, Vaas might have ordered them to watch their behavior around him or maybe they were just afraid like Vaas had mentioned that they might be. Only one way to find out, Jason supposed.

“Hey there,” he greeted the pirate nearest to him, a bony fellow in a skull and crossbones shirt and a red headband.

The pirate looked towards him and, for a split second Jason could have sworn the he might jump right out of his skin, but instead he merely replied in a deep, raspy voice, “Hi.”

“Some game, huh?”

“Uh. Yeah, it's okay.“

“Just okay?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow. “These guys are intense.”

“Yeah, but they're just playing. This is small stuff.”

“They seem pretty into it.”

“That's how you play right,” the pirate said. “You want to be big, you act big, you know?”

“Uh, I guess,”

“Some guys here, they're really fucking good,” he explained. “Guys like Felipe and César, they'll kick your ass. Vaas is pretty good too when he comes out.”

“Really? Vaas plays?”

“Yeah, but not too much. He's all busy.”

“With what?”

“You, mostly,” the pirate said, averting his eyes as though Jason might strike him. “And some stuff with the Rakyat guys, but that's not my business.”

“The Rakyat? Why's he busy with the Rakyat?”

“Uh, I dunno the words, man. They're- talking, I guess.”

“Talking about what?”

The pirate shrugged, squirming in place. “I just know 'cause a guy I know knows and a guy he knows knows.”

“Vaas keeps you all in the dark?”

“No, no-” He stopped and squinted his eyes. “Well, kinda. Vaas tells his guys and then those guys tell their guys and then everyone knows something, even if they don't get what they know.” He shrugged and shook his head. “Doesn't matter if guys like me know anyway. It's not my job to know stuff, it's my job to shoot whoever they tell me to.”

“You got a name?” Jason asked.

The pirate hesitated, lowering his head. “Yeah. It's Galo.”

“You think Vaas treats you alright, Galo?”

Galo nodded vigorously. “He treats us all good, yeah. He doesn't tell us everything, but nobody cares, it doesn't matter. Most of us just care about the money or the drugs or the rubbers.”

Jason scrunched his eyebrow at the word “rubbers.” “You mean- condoms?”

“Yeah, Vaas gives out condoms. We've lost good guys 'cause of shit they picked up from fucking. Vaas doesn't like that so he gives us rubbers. Shows us how to use them too. It's helped a lot.”

“Huh.” Jason thought about asking more questions, but his own thought process had already taken hold. On one hand, the system that Galo described couldn't possibly be fair at all to the grunts that made up its base. On the other hand, they were pirates. They couldn't expect to be treated with justice and respect. And besides, if they thought that they were getting a good deal, who was he to question it?

As the sun was edging past the base's westernmost border of canopy, Vaas came back to collect Jason, shocked to find him in the same place as he had been for the past two hours or so. He said nothing about his conversation with Galo.

*****

On Tuesday, at least, Jason thought it was Tuesday, Vaas presented him with a plate of _things_ at dinner. They looked kind of like lumpy fetuses attached to a hook and, as Jason picked one up, felt like lightly heated, very slimy clam meat.

“Uh, what are those?” he asked, turning the object about in the air.

“Dog conches, what the fuck else would they be?” Vaas answered, giving him a casual yet perplexed stare. His brows were scrunched slightly, but he smiled like nothing was wrong.

“Conches? Like those kinda tan, spiky shells?”

“Yeah, that's right.”

“Those things have meat in them?” As he spoke, Jason realized just how naive he must sound. Even while on Rook, he still had never considered something as simple as conches being more than just their shells.

Vaas stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. “Jason! You're funny, man, did I ever tell you that?” He shook his head, eyelids fluttering. “Se-seriously, though, try it, it's like- like oysters, it's good. Just watch the claw, that's not for eating, that's for fucking stabbing.”

Jason hesitated, staring at the conch meat. Well, it wouldn't be the most unusual thing that he had eaten since arriving on Rook. That title would probably go to Komodo dragon meat.

Holding a neutral expression, Jason bit down on the tip of the conch, easily tearing through the soft flesh with his front teeth. It severed nicely with no clear binding tissue past the surface. The conch's smooth skin was almost soothing and certainly refreshing after days of mostly eating eggs or some variation of pork. As he started to chew, the muscle came apart in soft chunks and shreds, the mild texture of which rubbed against his tongue pleasantly. Vaas was right, though; it tasted a lot like an oyster. A raw oyster. Not awful, but it was no red meat.

“You like it?” Vaas asked, batting his eyelashes.

Jason swallowed quickly before answering, “Yeah. It's alright.”

“Fucking great! You should come with me sometime, we can catch these things together. They're all over the place. And mussels, we should get some mussels too.”

“You made this for me just to have an excuse to invite me to catch these things with you, didn't you?”

Vaas giggled, resting a cheek on his palm. “Nothing escapes you, Jason.”

“Why didn't you just, I don't know, come hunting with me? Or are you not going to let me do that anymore?”

Vaas' smile disappeared and he rubbed his face up to his forehead. “No, no, no, no, no, no, Jason, that's not what's going on. You- you- I still want you to hunt. It's just that I- No.”

“No?”

“No hunting, not with me.”

“Why not?”

“'cause- it's just- I don't want to, okay? I don't feel like it. We have meat here. That's- that's enough, it's cool, it's fine, I don't need to hunt.”

“Uh, okay then.”

Vaas' eyes brightened abruptly and he gave a pleading grin once more. “So you'll go with me sometime?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Maybe sometime, yeah,” he lied before taking another bite of the conch meat.

“Fuck, yes!” Vaas cried, beaming like a child. “You'll love it Jason, trust me. The- the fucking minute you want to, you tell me.”

“Yeah, okay, I will.”

Voluntarily spending more time with Vaas than he needed to? Fat fucking chance.


	8. Deep Grief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay on this. I was in a rut for a while, then it was slow writing, slow looking over, then the holidays came about, it's been a pain. I was really determined to get this out before the new year, however, and that at least has happened. I hope it was worth the wait and I greatly appreciate your patience.
> 
> Thanks to Gaiusan for holding me back from releasing this before it was peer edited and ready.

About a week after the incident with the Rakyat, Jason was tweaking at a piece of his puzzle box as early sunbeams peeked through his windows. For no clear reason, his brain had decided that forcing him into a habit of waking up before sunrise and not letting him get back to sleep was, in fact, the best course of action for dealing with captivity. The box had at least made the time that he had to himself less unbearably boring. He almost wished that Vaas would start coming in earlier. As much as he hated the pirate lord, Jason had to admit that there was never a dull moment with him around.

When Vaas did walk in, however, Jason made a point to ignore the clap of his footsteps and the slam of the door swinging open and then closed again. He remained as he was, horizontal on his cot and staring upwards with his mouth ajar.

“Jason?” Vaas called to him, using his soft voice.

“What?” Jason sighed, keeping his gaze on the puzzle.

“We're going out. Come on.”

“I don't feel like it.”

“Jason, this is really, really important. Come on.”

Jason tilted his head up to get a look at Vaas' expression. He was frowning, barely even looking at Jason let alone giving his usual focused stare. He looked downright grave. Vaas barely ever even looked upset, let alone grave. If Vaas' expression was any indication, whatever he wanted really must have been urgent. Or, at least, Jason hoped it would end up being urgent rather than Vaas leading him into some kind of prank.

Setting his puzzle down on the cot, Jason finally stood up. “Fine, lead the way.”

They headed outside, down the ladder, and through the base. The pace at which Vaas was moving put Jason off even further. For once, the pirate lord was taking his time, not hurrying to get to their destination, maybe even reluctant to get there. If that was the case, though, why would Vaas have bothered in the first place? Even the few pirates who were out and about in the early hour seemed confused by the situation. Those that they passed by inevitably gave he and Vaas their own personal gazes of confusion. Perhaps to them, Jason considered, seeing Vaas in a poor mood that was not uncontrollable rage seemed a trick of the morning mists.

“This will be a while,” Vaas piped up as they approached the camp's border. “Gonna have to drive most of the way.”

“Where are we going?” Jason asked.

Vaas glanced back at Jason, a strained half-smile tugging at his lips. “You'll- you'll see. It's nothing that will kill you, I promise.”

“That's not reassuring at all, Vaas.”

“Just trust me, okay?” He looked forward again and took in a deep breath. “Okay.”

“I really don't,” Jason mumbled.

Either Vaas had not heard him or he pretended not to have as he continued on without giving a response.

As soon as they got to the edge of the rainforest, Vaas grabbed Jason's wrist and held fast. Jason opened his mouth to protest, but then remembered just how dark the forest floor could be. If it meant not having to navigate that, he could tolerate the touching. Better to let Vaas lead him than to get lost in unfamiliar territory. Even in the dark, though, a plethora of squawks, shrieks, howls, and bellows could be heard around them, mostly coming from above. It disorienting enough without his eyesight, but the constant audio from all around made it close to impossible to think straight. Even being used to focusing on several sounds at once, this was too much for Jason. He could imagine a similar predicament being used as a form of torture.

“What's making all that noise up there?” Jason asked, wanting a voice to focus on through the distant racket.

“Alotta birds, Jason, some cockatoos, parrots, BOPs-”

“Bops?” Jason echoed.

“Birds of paradise, you know, the flamboyant motherfuckers. All fluff, no meat, those guys.”

“Yeah, I know'em, that's just- not what I would have thought you'd call them.”

“Sometimes the stupid shit sticks,” Vaas said with a shrug. “And then there are some monkeys. I don't- know many names, but I could point some out sometime. Maybe-” Vaas paused and Jason felt the grip on his hand tighten. “That's not important. It's not important right now.”

As the jungle thinned around them and they approached a dirt path, Vaas surprised Jason by letting go of his wrist without prompting. Jason thought about acknowledging it, thanking Vaas, but that would mean giving Vaas credit for something and Jason was not okay with that.

“Give it a few minutes,” Vaas muttered as he stood at the road's side.

Jason would not have been surprised if Vaas talked to himself when he was alone.

It took more than a few minutes of waiting, but at last the rumble of a car engine reached Jason's ears, followed quickly by the sight of a technical ridden by three pirates, two in the front seats and one mounting the turret.

“Yo!” Vaas shouted as they came close, stretching out his arm out toward the road and sticking up his thumb.

Jason saw the pirates in the vehicle turn to look towards Vaas and an instant later, the car shrieked to a halt next to them.

“Vaas, hola! Qué tal?” The pirate who had been driving called to Vaas before stepping out to approach them.

“Eh, Nando! Tu coño!”

Nando, if Jason had heard right, walked right up to Vaas and exchanged a quick hug with him, chatting to Vaas as fast as his responses came.

Now this was new. For as long as Jason had been around these pirates, all of them had been uneasy or outright nervous in Vaas' presence. They had never been friendly or open with him and certainly had never given him a hug completely unprompted. Was Nando special somehow? Was he close with Vaas for some reason? Then again, Vaas did seem to treat his men decently and even without Vaas around, the pirates seemed uncomfortable with Jason. Maybe, Jason realized, the only reason that Vaas' men were not personable with their boss was because of his presence.

“Es él Jason?”

Jason's thoughts halted and he looked up at the sound of his name.

“Sí, sí, this is him,” Vaas said, beaming with enthusiasm.

Nando sauntered up to Jason, “I gotta say, I thought he'd be bigger.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Jason asked, narrowing his eyes.

“You look bigger from far away, Jason. A lot fucking meaner too. I know. You nearly got me once.”

“Er, sorry?” Jason had to admit, talking to someone while knowing that he had tried to kill him once was more than a little uncomfortable.

Nando snickered, waving a dismissive hand. “Nah, nah, it's good, I'd've done the same to you then.”

Without warning, he gave Jason a playful shove, nearly knocking him off balance. Jason might have thrown a punch had he not been so surprised at a pirate having the gall to touch him in front of Vaas.

“Hey, hey, you be nice with him!” Vaas barked, his welcoming smile dissolved into a glower and every muscle in his body tensed as though he might tear Nando to pieces at the drop of a hat.

“Ah, lo siento!” Nando said, more to Vaas than to Jason. “Just- just playing, you know? I'll let you two get off then.” He clicked his tongue at the other two men, walking towards them. “Come on, guys, let's go!”

The group continued down the road as Vaas led Jason to the car. Vaas stood out of Jason's way as he climbed into the passenger's seat before hopping in himself.

“Don't mind Fernando,” Vaas said, turning the car's key. “He's a nice guy. Just a little stupid.”

“Yeah, whatever you say,” Jason said, pondering how many innocents Nando might have killed under Vaas.

As they turned and started down the road, Jason realized something: Vaas' driving was really bad. In fact, it was abysmal. Vaas could barely be bothered to stay on the path, causing the car to jump sporadically as the wheels struggled to find their grounding on uneven terrain. At the speed they were going at, if the car hit just about anything, it probably would have exploded. Only when they had to make a turn did Vaas slow and even then, Jason found himself holding onto the rim where a door should have been for dear life. Sure, Jason had had his fair share of interesting crashes, most of which were completely the fault of Rook island's rickety bridges and unpaved roads, but he at least knew how to control the vehicle.

“So, I was wondering,” Jason started, trying to suppress the anxiety in his voice.

“Yeah?” Vaas said, glancing at Jason for a split second.

“When those Rakyat got at me, why didn't your men just shoot them on the spot? Is it because you're- negotiating with them?”

“Who told you that?” Vaas asked before shaking his head. “No, no, wait, don't answer that, I don't give a fuck. Yeah, I have been trying to play nice with them, Jason. With Citra dead, the Rakyat are, uh, not so organized. They're still working out their shit so for a little bit now, my guys and I, we've been doing some- diplomatic efforts.”

“Diplomacy? Between you and the Rakyat?”

“Yeah, I know, it's weird as shit, man. I mean, we don't get along great yet, it's only been, like, two weeks, but those fuckers have broken off in a million little groups and most of them would kill for a chance not to fight us anymore. Too busy fucking each other up.”

“What's the catch?”

“They let us have some bases, some land, and see about hooking us up with some of stuff the merchants carry.”

“What? Not a single shop will trade with you?”

“Did you ever catch one of my guys trading? Like, fucking anywhere?”

Jason paused before admitting, “No, I never did.”

“'course not. You think they want to deal with us? Risk pissing off the Rakyat? No, they say fuck that and fuck us! Like we don't need to fucking eat too!” Vaas took in a breath and relaxed his expression before continuing. “Usually we get out own stuff imported straight to us, but that is a fucking pain in the ass and takes too fucking long, let me tell you, Jason. Easier if we can just get our shit on the island like everyone else. And we can now, sometimes.”

“Oh. Okay. I get-” Jason cut off with a gasp as Vaas veered onto a side path. “Who the fuck taught you to drive?!” he finally snapped.

“Uh, myself, mostly. Been driving since I was, like, old enough to see over the wheel.”

“Well, you suck at it!” As he spoke, however, the car slowed to a more reasonable speed.

“That's big talk coming from the guy who smashed into a fucking gas tank to take out two of my guys,” Vaas said idly.

“It was a good idea at the- ” Jason blinked and turned toward Vaas. “How do you know about that?”

Vaas did not respond. His expression had dropped into a frown once more.

“Hello?” Jason said, leaning forward to glare up towards Vaas' face.

Again, no reply, but the car came to a halt in the middle of the road. Without a passing glance at Jason, Vaas stepped out before heading farther down the path on foot.

“Fuck's sake,” Jason muttered before jumping out and running after Vaas. “What are you-?!

Jason's heart froze suddenly as his eyes moved past where Vaas was standing. In front of them was the start of an abandoned base. The area was mostly open as it had likely been meant to allow for cars to come through, but it was split by a trench. Only one structure stood among the open grass: a makeshift execution platform, elevated just slightly. Not far in front of it, shacks with the low-set roofs of typical Rook architecture stretched towards the other side of the forest. It was the same place that he and Grant had been held at on his first night on Rook, Jason realized, stomach twisting into a tight knot. The bridge across the ravine was still intact, forgotten belongings lay strewn about, and some cannabis crops were still growing in patches. Plant life had started to reclaim it, with moss and vines clinging to much of the wood and stone about the place, but it remained chillingly recognizable. Just looking at it sent shudders down his spine.

He looked at Vaas, wanting to say something, wanting to ask why, but unable to force the words out. Tearing his gaze away from Vaas, Jason braced himself before stepping cautiously towards the camp. Questions would come later, if he could not find his own answers.

It was surreal, standing in this place again after such a long time, after so much had changed. Stepping lightly over the rickety bridge covering part of the ravine that ran through the base, Jason faced to the side that led deeper into the base. He remembered himself, scared and whimpering, practically clinging to his brother as they had tried to escape. It had all been so new. Those strange slavers with guns and drugs and dogs. Vaas' cruel stare, his sheer powerful presence so overwhelming. Yet the pirates who had scared him so much stood no chance against him now. He had been so sensitive. So simple. The contrast made Jason nauseous.

Bracing himself with a breath, Jason turned to look at the other side of the gorge. The side where he had lost his brother. He stared for just a second before ducking his head to the side, shoulders going stiff around his neck and his face scrunching up painfully. It was too much at once. But he had to do something. Had to pay his respects, even if he had to force himself.

“What- happened to the body?” Jason asked without turning his head.

Vaas stood at the bridge's end as he replied grimly, “I had it dumped in with a lot of other bodies, like we usually do. I don't even know where. It's probably gone by now.”

A flash of anger coursed through Jason, but what else could he have expected from Vaas? Averting his eyes, Jason jumped down from the bridge and into the ravine. Looking around, it was just as he remembered it, all discarded clothing, old passports, and abandoned luggage. He took a few steps farther and felt his stomach twist into a knot as his mind flashed with the image that still haunted him: Grant, shot in the neck and bleeding on the dirt, wheezing for air, eyes rolling back in his head. Jason could see it perfectly,but the ground was clean. No marker, no indication of the horror that had taken place here. Simply seeing the spot so normal was almost as awful as truly re-living that moment might have been.

Forcing his eyes away from the ground, Jason looked to the ravine's borders. He spotted a sizable rock on the left side and plodded over to pick it up. It was a cumbersome few steps back over to the site of Grant's death, but the rock seemed almost weightless in Jason's grief-addled mind. Carefully, he placed the stone down just above where he remembered his brother's head had been. It was not much, but he had to mark the spot somehow.

Kneeling down in front of the stone, Jason pulled in a deep breath before allowing himself to speak. “Hey, Grant. Don't know if you're still hanging around or if you're somewhere you can see me, but if you are, well- you probably don't recognize me anymore, hell, I don't really recognize myself sometimes anymore. This island, it really does change you. Brings out your goddamn inner animal. Three animals, actually, in my case. And it can be good and bad, but I'm- I'm almost glad it didn't have the chance to change you. I wouldn't want to see you like I am now even if- if, just sometimes, I really wish that I'd been the one that died like that. That I'd died for you.” Jason hung his head. “But you wouldn't want that, would you? You'd have done that for me, taken that bullet if it kept me safe. And you did. Holy fuck, you did. You didn't deserve that, Grant.” Holding back a sob, Jason wiped a few teardrops away from his eyes. “God, you were so much better than me. At being an older brother. At setting an example. Not like me. But I think Riley's okay now. Him and Daisy and everyone else we came with. They're probably home by now. Probably think I'm dead.” Jason reached out a hand and touched the makeshift gravestone. “I know that you'd want me to let go. Move on from feeling horrible about what happened. I think I might be able to now, at least mostly. I just wanted to say good-bye. So, if you're there- good-bye.”

Jason sighed and looked back up toward the bridge. His heart threatened to jump out of his throat at what he saw. Vaas was standing there watching him, in the exact same spot where he had stood when he shot Grant. His face no longer mocked Jason, though, and no scorn was indicated in his stance. He simply watched Jason with sad, pitying eyes and a tight frown. At once, Jason felt both enraged and yet somehow comforted. Some things would never change and yet others still did, sometimes radically so. Maybe he really could move on. But if Vaas expected him to be forgiving, he had another thing coming.

Wincing, Jason slowly stood up. His hand slipped off of the rock and, though his heart was still heavy, Jason himself felt lighter. He walked back towards the bridge and climbed up next to Vaas.

“I want to leave now please,” Jason said, his voice as blank as his face.

“Okay,” Vaas said, voice more sedate than Jason had ever heard it. Without ceremony, Vaas started back down the way that they had come, his pace slow and deliberate, and Jason promptly followed suit.

All Jason wanted to do was weep and weep for hours. Why would Vaas take him here? Why did he feel like he had the right to bring Jason back to something so horrible, something that he had caused, no less? Why did he have to look so sincere and regretful all the while? Why would someone like him ever take Jason to mourn his goddamn brother? The answer to everything running through his mind was so painful and yet so obvious, and Jason was at once shocked and insulted by it. Offended by the idea that Vaas could ever want to do something kind or thoughtful for him. Someone as horrible as Vaas should not have been capable of kindness.

Jason stopped in his tracks, staring down at the forest floor as he realized exactly why Vaas had taken him back to where everything had begun. “Fucking goddammit. You really- you want to make this better, don't you? Between us.”

Halting as well, Vaas turned back to Jason, shrugging casually in spite of his regretful stare. “Yeah. That's what I've been trying to tell you. But I guess I've always been shit at telling you things.”

“Son of a bitch,” Jason growled, clenching his fists.

“I know I am, believe me.”

Jason could no longer bring himself to look at Vaas or keep his eyes open.

“Jason, I'm- I'm sorry. It's fucking shitty to lose someone you care about, I should know that, I do know that. But I didn't know you then.” Vaas reached out a hand and touched Jason's shoulder lightly. “If I could just- go back, tell myself “Hey, that is someone you're going to need, don't shoot his fucking brother, you asshole,” I would, okay, I would.”

It was all too much at once. Pain, sadness, regret, rage, grief, too many emotions coursing through Jason all at once. Feelings that had been repressed in the moment as he had fought to survive on that first horrible night and every day since. Jason felt tears pricking at his eyes and immediately brought his hands up to smother them, but it was already too late. His upper body shook as he sobs tore out of his throat.

“Oh, oh, Jason,” Vaas said as he gradually put his arms around the other man. “That's right, you cry, cry your eyes out, that's okay, it's okay to do that. You need to right now.”

Jason should have pushed Vaas away, should have swallowed his sorrow, should have stopped himself from showing his weakness, yet he chose not to. He stood there and allowed himself to be embraced and comforted by his brother's killer. The irony was disgusting yet Jason felt better for it.

“I never- I never got to cry when I lost my parents, when I lost my sister. You need this, I know, I understand, I've been there. It hurts more when you hold back.” 

Jason allowed his cheek to come down and rest upon Vaas' shoulder. At least that way he would not have to see Vaas' face while his former worst enemy observed him at his most vulnerable. Not even just as he observed, as he comforted and tried to relate to Jason when he needed it most, making everything even worse and yet infinitely better at the same time. It was nice to be comforted when he truly needed it even if he would have preferred anyone else to Vaas.

They stood like that for hours. Or maybe it was just a minute. Jason hardly cared. He just wanted to get the tears out of his eyes. Maybe even rid himself of some lingering sorrow.

“Vaas. Thank you,” Jason mumbled as his sobs finally subsided. His impulses had taken him this far, there was no stopping them now. “I- I really needed that.” He gently pulled back then, out of Vaas' hold, to look his keeper in the eye.

“Yeah,” Vaas said, nodding slowly. “I thought so.”

And that was all. No bragging, no celebration, nothing from Vaas. He simply turned and continued down to the car like what had just happened was a normal occurrence. Jason was frightened and confused and worried, but above all, he was relieved. He felt better, lighter, like Vaas had helped him dispatch an albatross from his back.

As they came back to the car, Vaas plopped down in the driver's seat like nothing had happened. Jason followed suit, getting in on the opposite side and hanging his head as though he could hide his tear-streaked face from the world. He really wished that he had some wet wipes and maybe a hairbrush too. It would not do him any good to walk around looking like a wreck. Even if no one said anything outright, his pride still would suffer for every odd glance or whispered word.

A question flitted through Jason's mind and left his lips before he could think about it. “Why is the camp abandoned anyway?” he asked, looking up at Vaas.

“Couple reasons actually, it's 'cause-” Vaas blinked before leaning to the side to look past Jason, his expression turning to a grimace. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” Jason asked, following Vaas' eyes and finding only the normal shrubbery of Rook's forests leading towards a distant cliff.

“Jason. We've got a problem.” Vaas said, voice low, as he reached down and turned the car's key. “Get on the fucking gun, please.”

“What? Why?”

“'cause we're gonna have to outrun some motherfuckers and it would really help if you could shoot them before we die.”

Jason felt himself pale. “You mean- Rakyat?”

“Yeah,” Vaas said nodding as he turned the car about. “I know- you probably think they're your friends still, but if they shoot, you shoot back, okay? They'll kill us, Jason, trust me on this please.”

Swallowing his reservations, Jason maneuvered into the trunk and underneath the gun's supports before popping up behind the gun and gripping its handles. If he was lucky, Vaas was just seeing things, but Jason's gut told him that things were going to get ugly very quickly.

The first shot was a single bullet, probably from a sniper hidden in the distance. It just narrowly missed Jason's arm, grazing it and leaving a shallow cut, but was soon joined by machine gun fire from within the trees and the shapes Rakyat warriors hurrying between the trees and cycads. The rumble of car wheels sounded in the distance as they fired and it wasn't long before he saw the Rakyat vehicles speeding after them. Jason hesitated, though, as his mind brought him back to when these warriors had seen him as their savior. He was about to kill people that he had protected and helped in their time of need not more than three weeks ago. He was turning his gun on a former ally and was aiding someone who had betrayed and slaughtered them in droves. Could he really do that? Was that-?

“Shoot, Jason, fucking shoot them or we die!” Vaas called, breaking Jason from his trance.

Finally, Jason squeezed the turret's trigger and let loose a rain of bullets on a the Rakyat to the technical's left. If the Rakyat were going to fire at him because of a lie then by God, he was going to fire right back.

Adrenaline pumped through Jason from then on, fueling each shot and bolstering Jason's reflexes. The thought of who he was shooting at was pushed to the back of his mind, replaced by the sheer rush from simply shooting to kill. And kill, he did. Already, the Rakyat forces were thinning. Though, come to think of it, the number of actual warriors that he had seen seemed like less than they would put into a full-on assault. The few cars that had shown up had been easy to detonate with just a few shoots to their hoods. The ground forces with shotguns and assault rifles were annoying yet easy to take out; a burst of bullets and they went down no problem. The only real threat came from the occasional sniper, but Vaas' erratic driving was consistently throwing off the shooters' aim. It was almost enough to make Jason want to take back what he had said earlier about Vaas' driving abilities. Yet still there seemed to be too few Rakyat considering the situation.

“I thought you were negotiating with these guys!” Jason called to Vaas as he reloaded.

“Not these guys!” Vaas yelled back. “These guys fucking hate both of us! ”

“Why?!” he demanded, locking the spare rounds into place.

“Why the fuck do you think?!”

A sharp turn knocked any further questions out of Jason's throat as he was forced to recover and continue shooting. Had the Rakyat been watching them the entire time that they had been in the camp? Jason asked himself through his adrenaline high. He wouldn't have been surprised. Considering how they were really coming out of the woodwork to support each other, they probably had thought to call in reinforcements before attacking. And even with that, they were dropping like flies, Jason reminded himself, a lump reforming in his throat. He couldn't afford to stop shooting, though, not just yet. They seemed almost all gone, but not completely.

“Shit!” Jason heard Vaas shout as the car suddenly veered off to the side, tilting awkwardly to one angle. A wheel must have popped. If anything, Jason was just shocked it hadn't happened earlier. He was knocked shoulder first into the gun's rotor, breaking his grip on the left handle. Grimacing, he used his dislodged hand to grab at the newly tender skin, taking in a harsh breath.

“Focus left, Jason, I'll cover you!” Vaas called from the front.

Shaking his head, Jason readjusted himself on the gun and shifted so he was angled left. Seeing his usable rounds had depleted, Jason once more unlocked the mechanism to slot in a spare set of ammunition. Warriors were still approaching, most of them wielding smaller arms than he had seen before, handguns, SMGs, even some machetes. As he reloaded, Jason heard Vaas fire off two rounds on his right. He didn't want to look though. He didn't want to give himself reasons to be concerned so he focused on slotting in his rounds.

When gun was finally ready once more, Jason immediately shot off at a machete-wielding Rakyat who was only a meter or two away from the car. He fell, just look that with just one or two rounds. It was terrifying yet exhilarating at once. And they kept coming. One by one, a round of fire and they went down, some getting closer than others. They seemed to be focusing on Jason, based on the strangely minimalistic fire he heard on Vaas' side. They weaved through the forest steadily, those with more accurate guns, hanging back, only to be shot anyway. Something in Jason told him to stop every other second, but his hands would not stop. He kept shooting. Kept shooting until they stopped coming. It felt like hours. It felt like killing pirates again. And just like the pirates, before long, they were just gone, leaving only blood-soaked, rotting corpses. No more came in their stead.

Jason said to Vaas, breathing shaky and exhilarated, “I think- I think we did it.” He glanced around anxiously at the bodies. Though there were quite a few, there were less than he had thought there would be. Even so, the sight made his blood run cold. 

“Yeah, sure as fuck looks like it,” Vaas said, walking over to one of the several corpses littering the forest floor and tapping it with his boot. “Fucking hell. We make a nice team, huh?”

“Don't!” Jason barked without thinking.

Immediately, Vaas backed off from the body, turning his gaze towards Jason and holding his hands up flat in front of himself. He said nothing, only gave a quick nod of deference.

“Yeah. I guess we do. Make a good team,” Jason agreed, averting Vaas' eyes.

Vaas stood for a moment before looking back towards the road. “So, we're walking now, huh?”

“Yeah. Holy shit,” Jason muttered as he slipped out away from the gun.

“Let's go then, Jason, come on,” Vaas said as he turned and strode back onto the road.

As he headed after Vaas, his limbs practically moving of their own volition, Jason thought he saw the pirate lord look back at him with grin. It reminded Jason of the smile that he had used with Nando; warm and genuine and friendly, but more than friendly. Jason just barely saw it, maybe he had even imagined it, but it made him want to throw up as much as it made him want to return that same look. God, he really was fucking insane.

*****

The day went on as normal after Vaas led Jason back to the rainforest camp, albeit, Vaas spoke considerably less than usual. Jason kind of wished that he would have talked as much as he always had. At the very least, his voice was good white noise if Jason could get away with tuning him out. On top of that, in the afternoon, there had been a downpour. It was largely ignored by Vaas' men, who were no doubt used to the weather; they did live in a rainforest after all. Jason still almost sympathized with them, though, considering that he was staying in a shack that sat on a ledge which directed the water away. He could see the rest of the camp flooding pretty badly if the rain ever came down too hard or went on too long.

Later in the night, rain still pattering lightly on his cabin's rooftop, Jason found himself with a small dilemma: Vaas would not leave. The sun had set, it was dark aside from a lamp that had been left on the dinner table, and Vaas was still sitting in one of the chairs. He was shirtless, had his boots off, and was listening to the radio with his eyes half-lidded. Like he owned the place. Which he did, Jason realized just as the thought crossed his mind. Still, Vaas had never stayed with him this late before. Usually he left Jason be at sundown. Jason was already laying on his cot, but he could not shake the sense that Vaas was watching him and that made sleep near-impossible to come by.

It took what felt like forever, but finally Jason found the courage to speak. “Okay, I know it's raining and that's going to be a bitch to walk through, but could you maybe get out of here already? I'm tired.”

“Sleep, Jason,” Vaas said, reaching down to flick the radio's switch down. “I won't touch you.”

“But-”

“You didn't think you'd be sleeping alone forever, did you, Jason?” Vaas asked, glancing at the cot opposite from Jason's.

“No,” Jason said, head slumping down on his pillow, “I guess not.”

“I'm trusting you not to kill me in my sleep, Jason, just like you can trust me not to kill you in yours.”

“Trust. Yeah. Right,” Jason said, his sarcasm weak. While it was true that strangling Vaas when he fell asleep would be gratifying and, chances were, Jason would have been right to do so, it was still simply not an option. It was even less of an option than it had been initially really. Vaas was the only thing between him and both the Rakyat and the pirates. Even afraid as the latter were of him, they were armed and Jason was not. If Vaas died, Jason was going to die too, slowly and painfully.

“Good night then,” Jason grumbled after a moment, rolling onto his side to face the wall. He closed his eyes, but they kept twitching against the flickering lights. That was just perfect, wasn't it? He could get up before the crack of dawn, but God help him if wanted to sleep with the tiniest amount of light in the room. Rook was fucked up.

“Could you turn that lamp off?” he asked.

“Yeah, Jason, yeah, sure,” Vaas said.

Jason heard Vaas shift as he got up and internally follow his footsteps across the floor. In a moment, the lantern's light was gone, leaving only moonlight to provide visibility. A blessing as much as a curse. He squeezed his eyes shut and did his best to focus on anything but the sense of being watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please, make corrections or critiques if you spot any. Between just two people, in 5000 words or so, there's liable to still be bits of awkward weirdness somewhere and I'd rather not have that. There's a fine line between confusing and complex and I need to know where and how to draw that line. Help is appreciated.
> 
> Hopefully, next time we can get started on the seduction of Jason Brody.


	9. Cleanse

“You need to start taking baths, Jason,” Vaas had told him in their shack earlier that day.

Jason had been sitting at the table, resting his head on its cool, metallic surface, and Vaas was lounging on the cot that he had laid claim to. The radio was on, but Jason had tuned it out long ago. That was most of what they did when they were alone, Jason had realized, simply sit around and feel the time flow by. It was better than, say, being beaten down and shot at regularly or, God help him, being with Citra still, but it was boring. The least that they could do was maybe talk. Somehow put their past behind them and just talk like human beings. Of course, since they had visited Grant's deathbed and Jason hoped deep down that Vaas, after seeing Jason in such a sorry state as the direct result of his actions, would show some real understanding and just leave him alone for the rest of their lives. Vaas had left him alone mostly, for the past few days, but Jason supposed that if the silence had to be broken, it might as well be now.

“What?”

“You-” Vaas repeated, standing to point at Jason, “-need to start taking baths.

“Uh, why?” Jason asked. He had never felt inclined to really bathe on Rook. An occasional refreshing dunk in a lake or the ocean was about all he needed to feel not completely greasy and disgusting.

“Because you're covered in fucking filth and so is that outfit, it's gross. You need to scrub your fucking teeth too.”

“Since when do you care about personal hygiene?”

“Jason, no one on this island gives more of a fuck about being clean than I do.”

“Is that why you wear the same outfit all the time?”

“It's not the same, I've got a lot of fucking-” In a second, Vaas went from a rattled pout turned to an indignant scowl. “That is not the fucking point here, the point here is that you need to get out to some water with a bar of soap.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Jason sighed. He couldn't complain, though. At least he would be away from the camp and Vaas for a while. He stood up and stretched before allowing his upper half to relax with the loss of tension.

“Oh, yeah! And I have a little present for you,” Vaas said before he dropped to the floor on his hands and knees to fish something out from under his cot. If Jason didn't know better, he might have said that Vaas was trying to show off, based on the clear view he was getting of Vaas' ass.

After a moment, Vaas stood back up. In his hands, neatly folded, if a little wrinkly, were the clothes that Jason had come to the island in. His old blue t-shirt that had gone in and out of his wardrobe for too many years, those faded khakis that he had neglected to throw out for so long and somehow ended up coming with him on vacation, and a simple pair of black boxer shorts, not unlike the ones he had put on the morning before he and his friends had gone sky diving. He had thought that he would never see them again after he left them on Hoyt's ship. For a moment, he didn't believe that he even was seeing them again. But even after a few incredulous blinks, they were still there, not just a blue shirt and khakis, his blue shirt and khakis. And boxers.

“Those are...” Jason trailed off, thoughts suddenly clogged with emotions.

“Your clothes,” Vaas finished as he offered them to Jason, “I washed them myself. Wouldn't let my guys touch them, don't you worry.”

Jason's eyes flitted back and forth from the clothes to Vaas' face as he searched for words. “You- why?”

“Because you look better in them, Jason. And you're not fooling anyone anymore in that,” His gaze flickered down to Jason's mercenary outfit. “And, uh, if you ask me, those yellow stripes, they're ugly as fuck and it makes you a bigger target. At least red hides the blood, you know? But blue- it's a nice color for you.”

“Oh. Okay.” Jason should not have been feeling so much over simply seeing familiar pieces of clothing once again. He had to force himself to reach out both hands and take them carefully in his arms.

“I don't know about those, uh- Those.” Vaas prodded Jason's khakis as he spoke. “But I like your blue.”

Jason smoothed over some wrinkles on his shirt. Just as soft and broken in as he remembered it. To wear something as comfortable and simple as it again would take getting used to. He had grown accustomed to the chafe of his current outfit, the indentations it left in his skin. “Yeah,” he said, tone blank.

“Jason?” Vaas said, tilting his head down to look up at Jason's face. “If you don't like it, you can tell me. I can get you something else to wear.”

“No!” Jason barked. “It's just- How did you even find these?”

“You don't cover your tracks too good, blanquito.” Vaas said. “Since he was already going down to the other- the- the south island, I had Carlos track them down and send them up. Guess he found them in a crate at one of Hoyt's little, uh, initiation docks. Thought you'd want them back.”

“I did. I mean, I do, I really do, this is-” Jason hesitated before croaking out a quick, “Thanks.”

Vaas stopped for a moment and Jason was aware of the rare beam on his face. He was too overwhelmed to pay any mind to exactly how pleased Vaas looked at his reaction.

“No problem, Jason,” Vaas finally said before grabbing Jason by the arm and all but dragging him outside. Jason let out a gasp as he was caught off-guard, but he did not bother to protest. He merely rolled his eyes once he had his bearings and did his best to keep up.

*****

Vaas had stuck him with not just his old clothes, but a hotel-sized bar of soap, a hairbrush, a comb, a “chewing stick” that was apparently supposed to act like a toothbrush, a sealed pack of some kind of jerky with foreign writing on it, all resting in his arms upon a ragged towel with a floral pattern decorating it, no doubt stolen off the rotting corpse some hapless vacationer.

“You think that's enough?” Jason had quipped.

“Probably not. I'd rub some sun lotion on you if I had it. Don't want your poor white boy skin burning up, huh?”

“I don't burn,” Jason had shot back. It was a half-truth; Jason usually did burn, he just hadn't on Rook. Probably one of the tatau's many seeming alterations of his physiology.

Vaas had looked him up and down before letting out a laugh and shaking his head like Jason had cracked a joke. “But we usually don't need that kind of thing so much, you know? Heat gets to be part of you. Come on, let's get you the fuck outta here.”

And now, here Jason was, standing at the edge of the pool of water that Vaas had directed him to. It was boxed in on all sides by rocky cliffs except for the one that Jason had approached from, where small boulders and plant life had taken up residence upon the flatter land. A quartet of lazy waterfalls fed the pond, passing through rocky slope, overhung by a less than stable bridge. The water only seemed to get deeper the farther away from the waterfall it went as it moved closer to the river at large.

He wriggled the top of his uniform off, sighing in relief as he finally freed his skin of the almost leathery cloth material. With even greater relief, he slid off his pants and briefs at the same time. He had “commandeered” the latter from a fisherman's cabin not long after abandoning his boxers on Hoyt's ship without realizing that he didn't have the time to check Foster's for living creatures. They were functional and crab-free, but horribly uncomfortable. Jason would be glad to be back in his much less itchy cotton and polyester boxers.

With his clothes off and tossed at the pool's edge, Jason grabbed his bar of soap and waded out towards the waterfalls, glancing down at himself nonchalantly. He noticed immediately that the tan lines on his arms had disappeared beneath their constant cover. Not a bad thing, really; they probably would have invoked a few snide comments from Vaas. Something else was different, though, and Jason only realized exactly what as he stopped beneath the bridge and looked at his arms: the third level of his tatau was almost completely dissipated. The highest markings near his wrist had vanished and the lower markings looked to be fading fast. Panic seized Jason's chest and his breathing picked up. Glancing to the right, he saw that his old tribal tattoo was still opaque as the day he had gotten it. The problem had to be the tatau itself then. Was his body just absorbing the ink because it was more organic or something than a normal tattoo?

In the middle of his anxious contemplations, a slight splash sounded from behind Jason, prompting him to look over his shoulder. A dark human figure seemed to be stalking towards him and he had no means to protect himself.

“Jesus!” Jason cried, allowing his soap to slip from his fingers as he flinched

“No, my name's Vaas,” Vaas said. He was standing knee deep in the water, already just as naked as Jason was, tilting his head in what might have been confusion. “You okay, Jason? Haven't hit your head or something?”

“No! I'm not okay!” Jason barked. “What the fuck?!”

“Yeah, you hit your head, didn't you?” Vaas laughed, shaking his head. “But you do look better already, hermano, ” Vaas continued, smiling that obnoxious smile that he always got when he was non-verbally making fun of Jason.

“Why are you here?!”

“Well, I thought, when I was heading back, you know, I should probably get a bath too. Do it now, save myself time later, all that shit.”

“You could have at least said something, Jesus Christ, you startled me.”

“Chill, man, calm the fuck down. It's not like I've got my fucking gun to your head.” He regarded his pile of discarded clothes as he spoke. 

“Sure as fuck feels like it,” Jason muttered under his breath as he snatched up the floating soap and turned away from Vaas to start in on cleaning himself off, scooping up water from the pond and the falls to wet himself. It was tedious, especially with the nub where his left ring finger had been allowing water out of his palms, but he was too tense to sit in the deeper water with Vaas not far away.

As he was rubbing himself down, Jason stole a glance towards the light splashes that Vaas was making. He was just washing himself, sat near the edge of the pool, casual as could be. To Jason's surprise, his mohawk sagged a bit in places, yet for the most part stayed upright. Whatever Vaas used to maintain that thing, it must have been pretty potent.

Catching Jason's eye, Vaas gave a smirk and raised his brow in an unspoken question. Jason whipped his head away in a small panic, no doubt making him even more conspicuous. But good God. Vaas was was naked. Jason was naked and definitely being leered at. He shouldn't have minded at this point, but he was dealing with Vaas fucking Montenegro. It was like every time Jason was getting comfortable, Vaas decided that he needed to shake Jason as much as possible. Was that what Vaas wanted? Jason to be constantly snippy and on-edge? Was that going to be his long-term torture? Was he just giving Vaas what he wanted by being defiant? No. No, that was stupid, Vaas wouldn't be keeping Jason so close if he wanted Jason to stay defiant. He was making too much of an effort to change, even if it wasn't much of an effort at all. Vaas wouldn't be changing himself at all if he only wanted to keep Jason. The whole situation brought a familiar question back to Jason's mind: what exactly did Vaas want from him? He had talked about wanting Jason to fill a hole in his heart and wanting Jason to “not hate” him, but Vaas had never been specific. Then, Vaas had never been specific about anything ever. He had always spoken in abstractions and exaggerations and nonsense. Was it nonsense though? Maybe not.

Jason shook his head. He needed to stop chasing after ideas that were too great to break down in thought alone. Not to mention, he really should have asked about his tatau by now. From the looks of it, Vaas was definitely missing his, and if the same thing that Jason was going through had happened to Vaas, he needed to know, no matter how humiliating it was for him. Besides, it would take his mind off of being stared at. Hopefully.

“Hey, Vaas?”

Vaas looked up to him once more, giving an exaggerated tilt of his head as he replied, “Yeah?”

“Is there any reason why the ink that that the Rakyat use might, uh, fade?”

Vaas blinked slowly before the corners of his mouth rose in a knowing smirk. “You asking for a reason, Jason?”

Jason sighed under his breath before looking directly at Vaas' eyes. “The tattoo that the Rakyat gave me is fading, Vaas, do you know why or not?”

Vaas snickered, rolling his eyes. “'course I know why, Jason, same thing happened to me. Same thing happened to all my Rakyat guys.”

“Why?”

“You don't know?” Vaas asked before raising his hands above the water to stretch his fingers out into the air. “It's magic, hermano.”

“Magic?”

“Yeah, how the fuck else do you think the ink works?”

“Well. I guess it might be psychological or-”

“No, no, no, Jason. Sh.” Vaas stopped to eye Jason for any signs that he might speak before continuing. “It's magic. It makes you stronger, faster, better. If you stay loyal to that- that fucking giant killer, if you follow the path, you're good. You leave the path, no more tatau for you, you're fucked.” One of his hands sank below the water, tracing from what looked like Vaas' lower abdomen upward. “That ink? That's the jungle in you, the magic.” His hand flicked outward as it reached his shoulder, brushing unseen dust into the air. “And it's leaving, 'cause you're not doing what it wants.”

“You really think it's magic?”

“I have been on this island a lot longer than you, Jason. I was on the path of the warrior for a long fucking time. I hunted for them, I killed people for her, I choked down the fucking drugs!” He paused, eyes having gone wide and wild. “And then I left. And my ink left me.” Vaas hung his head, his eyes fluttering shut. “I can't hunt anymore, Jason. I hid on my island so much, I just- I lost my instincts with that stupid fucking ink.”

Out of nowhere, Jason felt a tug of sympathy at his heart. Losing something so important, something that Vaas had had for longer than him no less, must have been enormously painful. The thoughts were promptly quashed, however, as Jason retorted, “You don't need a magic tattoo to hunt. People without them do it all the time.”

“Oh, yeah, you were always a hunter, huh?”

“Well, not really.” Jason said, shrugging. “But I'm not going to stop hunting just because I don't have a magic tat.”

“Yeah, I won't stop you,” Vaas said, waving his hand dismissively. “Just don't expect too much from yourself, blanquito, okay?”

“Expecting anything but the best from yourself gets you killed around here,” Jason pointed out.

“No one's going to kill you, Jason,” Vaas growled. “If anyone even tries, if anyone puts a fucking hand on you, I'll-”

Vaas glared down at the water, clasping his fists and angling his chin downward. Within a second, however, Vaas' body relaxed and he looked back up at Jason, smiling just as if he had said nothing at all.

“Hey, pass me the soap when you're done with it, okay? I didn't bring any more.”

“Sure. Sure thing,” Jason said, removing his gaze from Vaas once more. He had the information he needed, no reason to draw out the conversation any longer.

Vaas was quiet as Jason continued his waterfall shower, allowing him to slip back into his drifting thoughts. Why had he never thought to bathe like this before? Had he really been that preoccupied with the Rakyat? It seemed like such a simple thing to think to do, yet he hadn't. Had let himself get filthy without a proper bath for an ungodly length of time. Vaas was right; he really had been disgusting.

Jason dipped his head under the waterfall, purging the last of the soap from his hair before wading back towards the surface. As he went, he tossed the bar of soap to Vaas, who caught it with no trouble, giving Jason an appreciative nod before heading towards the falls himself.

Grabbing his towel as he stepped back on shore, Jason began to dry himself off. It was far from the most comfortable towel he had ever used, but it got the job done well enough. Within a few minutes he was dry and his attention turned to the chewing stick.

“So, how do I use this?” Jason asked as he picked it up.

Vaas glanced up for a split second before answering, “Put the soft end in your mouth, scrub your teeth. Just like a toothbrush, easy.”

Jason threw Vaas a skeptical glimpse that went unnoticed, but nonetheless opened his mouth and pressed the stick against his upper left teeth. He was surprised to find that the sensation was not in the least unpleasant, not splintery or coarse as he had half thought it would be. In fact, it was quite comfortable and it even had a subtle spicy, but pleasant flavor to it.

“What is this?” Jason asked between scrubbing.

“Cinnamon.”

“Cinnamon?”

“Yeah, stick from one of the trees. Peel the bark a little, soften up the end, it cleans your teeth, makes your breath smell nice.”

“Didn't know you could make a toothbrush right from a tree.”

“You don't know alotta things, hermano.”

“And you can't hunt.”

That got Vaas' attention.

Finally, looking up from bathing properly, Vaas gave Jason a sharp glare. “When your ink fades all the way, you see how easy it is to hunt.”

“I will. And I'll bet you I'm just as good as I've ever been.”

“Yeah, 'cause you're already so great, cutting up deer from the back. Fucking nice.”

“Fuck you, I was out of practice, she spooked, I had to do something. And you know damn well I've done better since then.”

“Uh huh, whatever you say, blanquito,” Vaas said, tilting his head back down to focus upon himself.

Jason rolled his eyes before rushing to finish up with his teeth. He wanted his clothes on already, almost as much as he wanted Vaas to put his clothes on. While it was weird and awkward to be undressed in front of Vaas, it was even more weird and awkward to have Vaas be naked in front of him for extended periods of time. But he could not exactly force Vaas to keep his clothes on just then so he did the next best thing, picking up his boxers and starting to dress himself.

As he pulled on his pants, Jason sighed contentedly. They were just as he remembered them. A little loose, but still snug around his hips. Then again, they felt a little less tight than normal. His shirt felt baggier than he remembered it as well, Jason realized as he pulled it on. It was a little less clingy around his sides, hanging off of his frame more readily. Had he lost weight on Rook? Jason had never thought to check. Had never had the means to check. Still, the fabric was the same soft, well-used cotton as it had been for so long and Jason felt cleaner than he had in a long while. So long as his shirt was not slipping around his shoulders constantly, that was all the mattered. He considered taking the brush to his hair, but decided against it. No matter what he did, Jason could never seem to make his hair do just what he wanted. Usually it ended up messy and he had decided to go with the unkempt look. No point fighting something he couldn't control.

Jason gathered up the things that Vaas had given him into his arms and looked around for the other man. Vaas had finished bathing as well and seemed to be air drying himself on a sunny patch of grass a few feet away. Approaching him, Jason realized that Vaas' eyes were closed. Not only that, but he hadn't reacted to the sound of Jason approaching. He had probably dozed off while Jason was getting dressed. On top of that, near him was not only his neatly stacked clothes and boots, but his pistol as well, practically begging Jason to take it and end this. Not long ago, he might have dropped everything and grabbed the gun immediately, but now- Things were different between Vaas and he. Jason still had no affection for the sociopath, but now he was used to Vaas. Accustomed to having this man around, looking after him, keeping him out of harm's way. And Vaas did seem to want to change for Jason, even if holding him captive was a less than appealing way to show that. Not to mention that Jason still had unanswered questions for Vaas. But Vaas was still a monster and he deserved to die for his actions. So Jason hesitated, staring at the weapon.

“La vida que me das,” Vaas drawled suddenly, his eyes opening just a fraction.

Jason was taken aback by the words, his mind torn off of the gun. He looked at Vaas and said the first thing that came to mind. “What?”

“You're fucking beautiful, Jason,” Vaas said, tilting his head so that he could look Jason up and down. He let out a sigh before hauling himself to his feet.

“That's- not what you said,” Jason accused, backing off from Vaas and trying not to glance downwards.

Vaas followed him, hand coming out to grab Jason's hand like a snake striking its prey. Yet his grip was lighter than usual. Still firm, but gentler than normal. Jason stiffened, but did not resist as he knew from experience that he would most likely have his hand back in a moment. Vaas easily dragged the hand towards himself so that Jason's palm rested upon his now outstretched free hand. “Take the compliment, you silly fuck,”

“Okay,” Jason said, frowning with uncertainty at Vaas' gesture. “Thanks,”

“You too,” Vaas said before releasing his hand. “Let me get dressed, then we can get back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was horribly sick this past week. It sucked. Fortunately, though, I was able to complete this in my less disoriented moments. Hopefully it's not too obvious that I was a little out of it when I wrote some of this.
> 
> This chapter was weird. I knew what I wanted with it, but it was really tedious and slow to write. And it also turned out longer than I intended. Not too much longer, but long enough to be noticeable. And I'm still not sure if I'm satisfied with it.
> 
> Per usual, criticism, comments, questions, all are appreciated. Oh, yeah, and I hadn't mentioned before, but I do have a Tumblr. I don't tumbl particularly often or particularly well, but I have one if that makes a difference to anyone. I'll just leave it here.  
> http://hammocker1.tumblr.com/


	10. Impasse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was a lot of work. Sorry for the delay, this chapter was a real pain. I mean, all of the chapters tend to be a pain to write for me, but this one, good God. Hopefully, this was worth the extended wait. Sorry about that, by the way. I wanted this out a month ago, but then it grew another part and this March has been really tiring and I may have gotten back into Pokemon and may have promptly been hooked by it. I'm just glad to have it out now.

This particular shack was raised. That was the first thing that Jason noticed about it. Vaas had insisted that Jason see whatever was inside, but, of course, he had not explained what he wanted Jason to see or why. Very few of the shacks in the clearing were raised up on stilts. Most were built on elevated stone framework and required a substantial step up to get inside, but never were any raised so that they required a staircase like this one. They usually were just high up enough to redirect the worst of any flood-waters. Even with that, though, Jason was well-aware that water still got into many of the bungalows and the pirates usually stored any valuable belongings on top of the loft beds that they slept upon. Whatever Vaas had in this shack, he did not want it to get wet under any circumstances.

“This is very special, hermano, really fucking important to me,” Vaas said as they both climbed up to the door. He still had not explained just what he wanted to show Jason, only that he wanted to show him “something.” At this point, Jason hardly expected verbal explanations from Vaas. Jason only hoped that his keeper was not leading him up to some sort of sick trophy room of his most notable murder victims. And that the stairs would not collapse under his weight as it felt like they might.

Vaas opened the door and stepped out of Jason's way, allowing him a look inside. A deep brown couch sat in the middle of the room, straining to hold together in its obvious old age. It was not as large as Jason remembered couches, even being just a loveseat. Then again, maybe Jason's pre-Rook memories were beginning to blur. There looked to be marks upon the couch's fabric as well, maybe put there by knife, but some of the cuts looked too parallel to be from several slashes with a knife. They seemed much more like claw marks from a large animal.

As he stepped in, he saw across from the couch a bulky CRT monitor sitting against the wall on top of a crate that was tipped on its side. The screen reminded Jason of the several that his family had had before plasma screens had rendered them obsolete. On top of the set perched a silver VCR/DVD hybrid player, and below it in the crate, a few DVDs were stacked on top of each other with their spines facing outward. Next to the crate, a boombox with cerulean blue highlights sat on the floor, a few disc cases scattered around it.

Opposite to the door, boxes and crates full of what looked to be various DVDs, VHS tapes, and music CDs sat below rough shelves displaying more of the same.

“Wow,” Jason said, taking a step further into the room.

“This is where most of my personal money goes. I mean, I've had to cut back on it since you came in, but it's still, uh, impressive, huh?”

“Oh, yeah, it's okay, but I meant “wow” as in I haven't seen a VHS in, like, nine years.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, it's all Blu-ray for my family at this point. And most people don't do VHS anymore anyway.”

“Blue ray?” Vaas parroted.

“Yeah, they're like DVDs, but all in HD so they look really nice.”

“HD?”

“High-defin-” Jason started before he turned back to Vaas and caught his blank stare. “N-nevermind, it would take all day to explain. You spend most of your money on this?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Vaas said, nodding with renewed enthusiasm. “Money's not much good if you don't have something to blow it on, you know? So, I like to blow it on music and movies and shit.”

“Hoyt was cool with that?”

“Well, I got alotta stuff behind his back. Probably wouldn't have liked me buying movies when I was supposed to be buying drugs. From him.” Vaas paused before adding a throaty “pendejo” under his breath.

“Yeah, sounds like that asshole alright,” Jason said, half-smiling.

“Fuck, yeah,” Vaas agreed with a chuckle. “So, uh, if you want to look through my stuff, that's cool, just, put- put everything back where you find it. I've got a system of, uh, what's the word?” Vaas tilted his head up and inhaled through his teeth as he tried to recall. “Organized chaos!” he barked, looking back at Jason and pointing a finger at him. “That's it. Don't mess with it.”

“Alright. I can do that.”

“Great! Great, great, great, pick out something, pick anything, we should watch it. It'll be fun.”

“We can both dream,” Jason muttered as he approached the opposite wall. It was a little overwhelming really, seeing so much variety in one place. Unsure of where to start, Jason skimmed the shelves. Most of what was displayed looked to be relatively random, a selection of Vaas' favorites perhaps, but one large chunk of similar cases made Jason stop and stare: at least two shelves were filled almost entirely with movies bearing the Disney logo. Some were VHS, some were DVD, making for a haphazard aesthetic. Smooth stones on each end of the rows kept them from falling away from each other.

“You like Disney?” Jason asked, looking back at Vaas.

“Fucking love Disney,” Vaas said, now sitting on the couch, leaned comfortably against one of its arms, legs sprawled out above the floor.

“Didn't take you for that kinda guy.”

“How could you not like Disney? The colors, the big eyes, the songs, it's fucking fun. I love it.” Vaas' grin abruptly turned to a frown. “My guys don't get it. Except Carlos, he gets it. He knows movies. You get it, Jason?”

“Yeah, I get it. Any kid who grew up with movies gets it, trust me.”

“Good, you should get it,” Vaas said with a decided nod. “It's a shit world out there. Disney, all my movies, they're not so shit. Usually. Makes me feel not so shit at least.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” Jason said, returning his gaze to the shelves. Many of the titles he was at least somewhat familiar with. Hollywood films dominated the shelves, making up maybe sixty percent of. He wasn't sure of the contents of the crates below, but if the trend continued, they were likely mostly American as well. It was odd really. Jason had not exactly expected to find a selection that felt so like home anywhere on such a discrete island.

Even with so many familiar titles, a fair few that Jason didn't recognize or couldn't even read jumped out. Some DVDs on the shelf read in English characters, things like “Ada Apa dengan Cinta?” or “Ghajini,” but he had no idea what language or languages they were meant to be in let alone what they translated to. Others simply had characters that appeared only as line patterns in Jason's mind. He wondered if Vaas could translate them.

After a moment of visual browsing, a particularly familiar film caught his eye. He pulled it off of the shelf immediately.

“Harry Potter. The first one.” Jason said, turning back towards Vaas as he gazed fondly at the cover art. “God, I haven't seen this in forever.”

“You seen it?” Vaas asked.

“Hell, yeah, this was a big fucking deal,” Jason declared. “Riley was always more into the books than me or Grant, but I sure as hell saw all the movies. Me and my brothers always tried to see them opening day after got this one. A little tradition of ours.”

“Sorry,” Vaas said, looking away from Jason.

“You should be,” Jason sighed. “But I don't feel like making myself feel like shit right now so I'm not going to worry about it.”

Vaas turned his head back to Jason and blinked a few times. Jason could guess easily enough that he was having a hard time believing what he was hearing, was trying to figure Jason's thought process out. And Jason felt no need to enlighten Vaas. Instead, they stared at each other until Jason continued his tangent.

“And we did too. See all the movies opening day, I mean. Saw the last one a year back. Theater was packed as all hell, but it was so much fucking fun.”

“You saw all of them?”

“Yeah, that's what I said.”

“Fucking God, Jason, you have to tell me the story!”

“Uh, I don't think so,” Jason said with a modest laugh. “I'm not really a storyteller.”

“Come o-on,” Vaas begged, sitting up and leaning towards Jason. His eyes had blown up, but they weren't accompanied by a horrible, psychotic grin like they usually would be. No, he was pouting, if only just a little. “I couldn't get any more, and I gotta know what happens to Harry and his buddies after Voldecunt comes back.”

“Really, I don't remember much anyway-”

“Please! We can have story time, it'll be fun!”

“Look, I really-”

“Please?” Vaas' shoulders dropped and he suddenly looked much younger. Maybe it was the big eyes combined with a slight pout or just a change of posture, but Vaas looked almost like a child. A child who had been denied a bedtime story. It might have been cute or even sad were it not so weird and creepy. Yet Jason couldn't bring himself to say no, just because Vaas would probably never shut up if he did.

“Okay, how about this? We watch this one, I'll try to gather my thoughts on the fifth, and I'll see about telling you about it afterward.”

Vaas' face lit up with Jason's agreement and he sat up, clapping his hands together. “You're the best, Jason! Have I- have I told you that lately?”

“No.”

“Well, you are, you're great, I lo-” He cut off, eyes going blank for a split second returning to normal. “Seriously, you're really fucking amazing.”

Jason narrowed his eyes at Vaas, scrutinizing him. Maybe he should have asked a question, but he didn't want to, not right then.

“Yeah, thanks, I guess,” he finally said as he took out the DVD and approached the player.

*****

It was maybe an hour into the movie and Jason was having way too much fun. Not in a good way. It was becoming very difficult to hide his enjoyment from Vaas. He felt nostalgic, watching a movie from his adolescence on a crappy CRT television on a beat up old couch. It was like what he and his brothers always liked to do on weekends when they were kids, sans the pillow fort. Somewhat spoiling the mood, however, was the sense that Vaas was going to lean against him at any moment. In any other context, that feeling might have been nice, but not here.

Speaking of Vaas, the pirate had ducked out a while earlier and come back with a lighter in his hand and a joint between his lips.

“You always get high for movies?” Jason had asked.

Vaas shrugged and spoke with smoke curling from his maw. “Nah, just the shitty ones mostly, that's fun. But- 'cause I've seen this, I'm gonna give it my own little spin, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that, I guess,” Jason said before looking back to the screen. The topic wasn't worth pursuing, that much was obvious.

Not long after Vaas had flopped back down next to him, he started giggling. At first it wasn't especially noticeable, just a low snicker now and again, ignorable. As the burning smell curled through the room, though, the laughter gradually grew louder and more consistent. And, all the while, nothing especially humorous seemed to be happening, on-screen or in the room.

“What's so funny?” Jason asked.

“Huh?”

“I said, what's so funny?”

“Uh, nothing. Why, you think something's funny?”

“You're the one giggling, dude.”

Vaas blinked, staring at Jason with dreamy eyes. “Ja-ason, why- why are you so serious all the time?”

“I'm not.”

“You a-are, hermano. You a-are with me. Maybe we should burn a weed field. Sounds like you had a fuckton'a fun with that.”

“Maybe you should-”

Before he could say another word, Vaas had grabbed his face, brought his own up to it, and exhaled smoke into Jason's open mouth. Smoke and that same citrus-y, melon-y scent that Jason now knew to be mango.

“What the he-” he managed before a cough seized him.

“That better?”

Jason's vision went hazy as he coughed and stayed hazy even as the choking sensation wore off. His head had become light and the feeling was spreading fast around his whole body. He couldn't think straight, but he was still thinking sideways and backwards and diagonal with only a hint of rationality keeping his thoughts in order. It might have panicked him elsewhere, but the sudden disorientation was relaxing here. He wasn't really sure how, but he was grateful for it. Suddenly everything seemed much simpler and easier and better. Vaas' past actions, his own past actions, they didn't matter so much.

“Actually, yeah,” he finally said. “That's- what is that?”

Vaas' eyes flicked from Jason to the joint before he laughed and replied, “You know, I dunno exactly.”

Jason laughed along with him and for a while they giggled together. He wasn't sure exactly what was so funny or why, but laughing felt nice. It was nice just having someone to laugh with. It reminded him of Ollie, when they would share drugs and laugh the night away, just having a little easy fun.

“Ollie- Ollie would've liked this,” Jason said. “Getting high and watching movies.”

“Ollie, Ollie, Oll- the blonde in the hat, yeah?”

“Yeah, that's him. He loved, well, drugs, I guess. Mostly stuff you smoke.” Something tugged at Jason's mind, telling him that something had to be wrong about his statement, but he couldn't place what might be wrong. He couldn't quite recall. “God, since- since we were in eighth grade, he just never stopped.”

“The fun one, huh?” Vaas asked, offering the joint to Jason.

Without a word, Jason took the joint and breathed in on it. His head swirled anew, as though he had just run round and round through a revolving door, dizzy yet exhilarating, a tickle in his stomach. If he ever went back to civilization proper, Jason needed to spin around in a revolving door like he had as a kid, he decided.

“Yeah, yeah, he always wanted to have fun.”

“He never acted that fun with me,” Vaas said, plucking the joint from Jason's loose fingers and taking a drag for himself. “He screamed a lot. Passed out a few times. It was fucking annoying.”

“Don't blame him.”

“Never had a chance in the jungle. Lucky he's got a friend like you, Jason.” Vaas reached over to put an arm around Jason's shoulder. “Lucky you care about your friends. 'lotta people woulda let me eat their friends alive just for a little bit'a hope that maybe, just maybe they won't die. And they die anyway. It's- it's kinda fucking sad. But kinda funny too.”

“And you find it kinda funny, you find it kinda sad,” Jason sing-songed, barely noticing the touch.

“The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had,” Vaas warbled back.

God, Vaas couldn't sing. But then, neither could Jason, so who was he to judge?

“You know that one?” Jason slurred.

“Yeah, I got a couple albums, I like Tears For Fears okay.”

“They wrote that one?”

“I guess, I just got it on one'a their things, albums, you know.”

“Nah, I don't know, I just remember the song.”

“It's good song. Kinda fun and dance-y.”

“Fun? I thought it was pretty downbeat and sad.”

“Well, yeah, it's fucking sad, but I could dance to it.”

“You like dancing?”

“Who the fuck doesn't? Don't get to so much, but it feels nice.”

“Yeah. I like it too. Can't too well though.”

“No-o, you could dance fucking beautiful, Jason,” Vaas told him, subtly swaying both their upper halves back and forth. “I mean, I'm pretty good, but you, you got grace, you're fucking nimble and shit.”

Jason was aware of his torso rocking just vaguely, not quite sure what was going on. It felt nice, though, so he didn't want to stop it anyway. “Nah, nah, I really just can't,” he insisted.

“Bet you do it better than me.”

“Hm, yeah, maybe I do.”

“So you can't be that bad, huh?”

“Maybe not.”

“See?”

“See what?”

“See what?” Vaas echoed, taking his arm off of Jason to lean his face towards Jason's. “You're really fucking pretty, blanquito, that's what I see.”

“Pretty?”

“Yeah, pre-etty.”

“I don't feel pretty,” Jason said. “I feel heavy.”

“You know, me too,” Vaas said, shoulders sagging. “Maybe we should lie down.”

“Yeah.”

“You- you take the couch, Jason,” Vaas said before sliding down onto the floor and arranging himself parallel to the seat.

Maybe Jason should have taken steps to avoid this. He probably shouldn't have agreed to watch a movie with Vaas in the first place. He wasn't completely sure why anymore, but it felt off. But it felt good too. It felt good having a little fun again and that was all that mattered. Jason smiled as he laid on his back, legs hanging off of the couch's arm.

They laid like that for a while, Jason on the couch, Vaas half sitting up on the floor and just barely holding onto his smoldering joint. Jason was hardly paying attention to anything at all anymore. His senses drifted from here to there aimlessly, and he blinked in a vain attempt to keep his eyes open. Before long, though, he couldn't even find the energy to keep them open anymore and his addled thoughts began to mesh with his subconscious.

Jason was in a pool of water, his vision tinted deep blue. He looked about, finding himself surrounded by foggy darkness in almost every direction. As he blinked, though, Jason was able to make out a human figure standing several feet in front of him, but his vision was so blurry and there was so little light that only. At first, Jason thought it might be Vaas, with its sturdy, even stout form, but no, it couldn't be, the shape didn't have nearly enough of a mohawk. No, it wasn't Vaas, it was-

“Grant!” he tried to shout, no sound coming from his lips.

All at once, light pierced through the water and shone on the figure, confirming Jason's guess. Grant was staring at Jason, a cold, bitter stare. Jason knew that Grant couldn't be here, that Grant was dead and had to be a hallucination, but all logical thought seemed to have shut down in his mind. He reached out, but his arms didn't even come close to touching his brother. When he tried to step forward, Grant appeared to glide away from him. Even so, Jason began walking forward, needing to get a hold of his brother, needing to put his arms around Grant. His efforts only seemed to make Grant shift away from him faster, farther and farther into the dark.

“Grant! Grant, please!” Jason cried again, the sound muffled just as before. 

He broke into a run, reaching out as far as he could manage, but Grant was already gone and Jason was alone. Without a purpose for his movements, Jason stopped in his tracks. He felt like crying, but the water would have stolen his tears. Instead, he put his palms over his forehead and quaked in place, terror and guilt destroying what little rational thought he had left.

“No, no, no,” he mumbled, bubbles exiting his mouth instead of words.

In a second, Grant materialized in front of him once more, putting a hand on his shoulder. Jason tilted his head up cautiously, meeting his brother's eyes.

“I'll keep you safe. I promised to...” Grant was saying, but it didn't sound like Grant. It sounded like, maybe...

“Jason?” a voice that definitely wasn't Grant's called.

Jason jerked awake, finding himself staring up at Vaas' face. His hand was on Jason's shoulder, nudging him gently. In the background, a lilting tune chimed away.

“It's over,” Vaas informed him, a quizzical stare on his face. 

Swallowing around his dry throat, Jason looked towards the screen to find the main menu had reappeared on-screen. “Uh, yeah, I guess it is,” he said, sitting up and swinging has legs back onto the floor.

“Story time?” Vaas said, hopping up on the cough next to him.

“Yeah. Yeah, story time, right” Jason said. His head was clearing, but a mist was still hanging over his thoughts, like he was dreaming. He probably had been, but he couldn't remember now.

Vaas hopped up next to him, staring at him with wide, interested eyes. “I'm listening,” he said.

“Okay, well, let's see. So, uh, Harry is back with his uncle-”

“Why? I thought he had a place to stay with Ron.”

Jason took in a deep breath. This was going to be a long story.

*****

The sun was just beginning to set as Jason and Vaas exited the raised shack.

Somehow, through his own stumbling and many interruptions, Jason had been able to at least hit all the key points of the fifth movie as well as mention a few less significant, but fun scenes. Overall, Vaas seemed more than pleased, if the level of teeth he was showing was any indication. And now they were simply chatting. Like they were friends. It was disconcerting for Jason to say the least, but, at the same time, it felt incredible just having someone to talk to about nothing again.

“Hey, uh, Jason?” Vaas said between some conversation about the heat.

“Yeah?”

“If you want to come down here and do whatever with my stuff whenever you like, go- go right ahead, it's fine, it's cool.”

“You're gonna leave the door unlocked?”

“The door on our place? That hasn't been locked since I started sleeping with you, Jason. You didn't know?”

“You didn't tell me!” Jason squawked.

“I thought you'd check, you checked a lot when you got here, I thought you still did,” Vaas said, shrugging.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting shit to change.” Jason enunciated every other word as he spoke. “I'm not insane yet.”

A knowing smirk crossed Vaas' face. “You can pay attention, eh, blanquito? I didn't think you remembered that little talk we had.”

“I remember that one. It was kinda hard to forget, considering that you were about to drown me.”

“But you didn't drown, did you, mi chico hábil? And you remembered.” Vaas had a smile on his face, a real true smile, and as he spoke, his face drew closer to Jason's. “I really wanna kiss you, Jason.”

Jason stared him down before replying with a hard, “Don't.”

Vaas' smile contorted into grimace, teeth grinding, almost glaring, but not quite. He backed off, letting out a heavy growl and shaking his head. “You're killing me, Jason, you know that?” he declared.

“Oh, fuck y-”

“No, no, don't- don't say those words, don't give me that look, it's okay,“ Vaas said, expression scrunched into a pleading gaze. He lurched forward and grabbed Jason's right bicep. “You can kill me as much as you want. Just- don't really kill me. We already killed each other enough, huh?”

Jason leaned back, away from the scent of fruit and pot and spice that was rolling off of Vaas' tongue with his words. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess we have,” he agreed with effort, nose wrinkled.

Vaas' face brightened, and he moved back to give Jason an affectionate pat on the shoulder. “So happy we're on the same page for once.”

“Yeah,” Jason breathed, eyes falling on Vaas' hand. “So. You're just gonna let me run loose?”

“Sure, why not?” Vaas said with a shrug. “Just, uh, don't go into the forest too far without help. I don't want to have to tear it down even worse looking for you.”

“Yeah, I know, don't worry.”

“I'm gonna worry,” Vaas said, putting both his hands on Jason's shoulders. “I'm gonna trust you-” He brought a hand down jabbed Jason's chest with two fingers. “-'cause I want you to trust me-” He brought the fingers towards his own chest, tapping it with them “-but I'm gonna worry that you're just gonna run off and get eaten to drive me crazy and- and I couldn't deal with that, Jason.”

“Okay. Yeah. I get it, you're gonna worry. Just- I promise I won't do anything stupid.”

“Thanks, Jason.”

“You're welcome,” Jason said, gripping Vaas' wrist and pulling his hand off of his shoulder. “And just because you got me high doesn't mean you get to touch me as much as you goddamn please. Cut that shit out.”

“Oh. Oh, shit,” Vaas said, bringing his hands back to his sides and backing away from Jason. “I didn't even- Uh, if I'm doing something you don't like you can just, you know, tell me. Say something. It'd help.”

“Well, I don't like being kept here for starters.”

“You haven't gone anywhere,” Vaas said with a modest shrug. “You haven't tried to kill me.”

“That would be suicide!” Jason snapped. “One, there's a rainforest I don't know how to navigate in my way, two, there are God only knows how many Rakyat who want me dead, and three, if I killed you, your men would be out to get me too. I don't even have a knife!”

“You're smart, Jason, I know you are. And you got away from me and my guys before you had that ink,” Vaas pointed out. “You could find a way out if you wanted to, I know.”

“So, what, you're saying I _want_ to be here?”

“Maybe,” Vaas said, tilting his head far to the left. “I don't know what happens in your head, hermano, I just know you got away from me before, before when I was trying to kill you, and you did it. You got the head to do it, I know.”

“You're missing the whole fucking point anyway. I don't leave because I don't want to die.”

“So, you'd rather be here, with me, than die? That's better than being killed?”

“Yes, your company is better than death, that must be such a fucking victory for you.”

“Hey, so long as you're not trying to off yourself.”

“You're pathetic,” Jason sighed before turning and hopping down the steps to the forest floor.

“Jason!”

“What?!” Jason barked, turning to glare daggers at Vaas.

“Jason, Jason, I was- I was scared, okay?” Vaas admitted, stepping down towards Jason and holding his arms out at his sides. “I was scared that you wouldn't- you wouldn't eat, you know? That you'd try to just fucking kill yourself.”

“That doesn't change jackshit.”

“I just thought you should understand. That's all. It scares me so fucking bad, thinking about you dead. I don't know how the fuck I could have ever tried to kill you. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. And I'm trying, really fucking trying to be better. For you.”

“You sell off people as slaves, what the hell-”

“No, no, no, Jason, that's- I wanted to tell you, I don't do none of that, not since you got Hoyt. I wanted to tell you, but I just- I forget shit Jason, things don't stick in my fucking head!” Vaas harshly prodded himself on his forehead a few times. “But I don't want to do that anymore.”

“But you did do it, you did do fucking awful things.”

“And you didn't? You killed alotta people Jason, alotta my friends. They don't matter?”

“Yeah, your friends who were trying to help you commit fucking genocide against the native people of the island!”

“You still killed people. Killing's killing, Jason. It messes with your fucking head, doesn't fucking matter who. I know, I have done it longer than you.”

“So we've both done shitty things.”

“I done more, but yeah, we've done some bad shit, Jason,” Vaas said, nodding. “But you- you've let me do not so much bad shit. You're special like that. I don't fucking get it, but it's how it is. It's like, when I see you, I just, I want to try. I want to try to not fuck up, not for me, not for- well, maybe a little for my guys. But mostly for you. 'cause you're like me. Just- better.”

Jason He inhaled deep before exhaling a single word, “Fine.”

“What?”

“I said fine. I've done bad shit, you've done more bad shit, but fine, you're trying.”

“Yeah.”

“So, I guess I have to try too. Try to- not be a complete pain in the ass, I guess.”

“You- really?”

“Yeah. But you have to do something for me too.”

“Anything, anything, Jason, just tell me for fuck's sake.”

“If I, for any reason, want to leave after say- I don't know, two months' time?” Jason drew out his last syllable for a moment before nodding decidedly. “Yeah, two months. Then you have to help me do exactly that. Leave. Safely.”

Vaas stared at him, a blank smile upon his face. It took a moment's hesitation before he finally nodded and said, “Okay.”

“I will hold you to this, Vaas. I have your word?” Jason asked, reaching his hand out.

Vaas glanced at his palm with uncertainty for a moment. A quick blink and a sudden “Oh, yeah!” later and he reached out to clasp Jason's hand, shaking it with small, erratic motions.

“I promise you, Jason, I promise,” Vaas said, nodding with his hand's motions. “I'll- I'll get a fucking calendar or some shit, I promise you, I won't cheat you.”

“Okay, yeah, yeah, good, get a calender, please,” Jason said, allowing his hand to be shaken. A calender would be nice. Jason had no idea what day or month it was. He could just barely remember the year. It was 2012. Or, at least, it had been 2012. Had the new year gone by already? Whatever the case, a calender would be a nice addition to their shack.

Vaas abruptly released his grasp, eyes going distant, and half-turned away from Jason. “Uh, I gotta go- take care of some, uh, stuff, Jason. You can get around okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine,” Jason said, waving his hand dismissively at Vaas.

“Okay, cool, fucking great, see you,” Vaas said before turning and rushing off down through the huts and greenery.

“Yeah, bye,” Jason said, staring around his surroundings. The camp suddenly seemed a lot quieter without Vaas around. He could make out hear the distant chatter of Vaas' men and the cries of birds from above and around. Not a bad change of ambiance at all.

Jason stood where he was for a while, reflecting on what he might have just done to himself. Maybe this wasn't the smartest deal Jason had ever made. God knows he had never been very good at bargaining with money. But he was stuck now. Hell, he was probably even more stuck than he had been before, stuck by his own damn word. Fucking hell. Maybe right about then would have been a good idea to head over to a swingball court and challenge a pirate to a match. No time like the present to start, after all, and Jason desperately needed an outlet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I didn't try to do too much all at once. There's a lot going on, I think, but I hope it's okay.
> 
> Oh, by the way, while I was writing this, I also finished a smaller kinda companion piece focusing on Vaas. If you're interested, here's a link and it's also part of the After All You've Done series.  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/3459050


	11. Come Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, very sorry for the delay. Had hoped to have the next big part out by earlier, but no, that didn't happen. I really would like to have a regular update schedule, but frankly, I just don't think that will happen. I'm gonna try to do update roughly once a month or more often if I can manage.

Jason was having a rare pleasant dream. He knew it had to be a dream because it was so nice, but his dreams had been so awful lately that he almost doubted that it was a dream, just not quite enough to keep him from being certain that he was dreaming.

A heron was guiding to him through the jungle, beckoning him to follow it. Jason, of course, did exactly that. Why would a heron lead him astray after all? They were meant to be wise, long-term thinkers. Jason would know; the heron was one of his totems.

It strutted at a brisk pace while Jason moved like he was stuck in cold molasses. Occasionally it had to stop to let him catch up and as it waited, it tilted its head to the side to give him a stare that seemed almost cold. How a heron could give an icy look, though, Jason wasn't sure. He was no bird man, but somehow he almost felt like he could sense its emotional state or even what the creature was thinking.

It led him like that down jungle paths for what must have been at least one hundred years before it stopped in front of the face of a nearly vertical incline covered in moss and vines and a few roots towards the top.

As Jason fought to catch up to it, the bird began to tug at some of the vegetation with its beak, pulling it away and revealing the rock face beneath. Except, as more and more came off and as he came closer and closer, Jason realized it wasn't a rock face at all. Instead, there was a steel door wedged into the slope.

Once Jason had finally caught up to the heron, it turned to him, looking straight at him with one eye as it had done before.

“You have to go,” it drawled, its voice raspy and its beak clacking with each syllable.

That was new. Jason had not known any of the avian life on Rook to speak.

He was about to ask what exactly was inside when the heron took off in a single powerful wingbeat. It was gone in an instant, leaving Jason to stare at the door.

Well. He had come this far. No point going back now. Jason leaned forward, finally moving without an extra, unseen weight, and gripped the door's handle. It turned too easily and opened with even less effort, swaying open almost of its own volition. Looking past the door frame, though, nothing but darkness seemed to lie beyond. The pitch black looked to absorb any light, not even allowing the sun's rays to pierce it.

Jason was reconsidering adhering to a fucking bird's advice when something from behind shoved him forward and he tumbled into the dark, landing on his face. He heard the door slam behind him, leaving wherever he was even inkier than before.

Getting to his feet, Jason glanced around for any indicator of where he needed to go, but he couldn't see a damn thing. He wasn't afraid of the dark, but not even being able to see his hands in front of his face was a bit much. Just before he could start to worry, though, a piercing bright light radiated down onto him. He put his hands up against it, squinting his eyes. He couldn't see much at first, but what he did see, Jason only barely recognized.

He was in his family's main living room, everything the same as when he and his brothers had left for Bangkok. The same leather couch and recliners. The same plasma screen and Blu-Ray player. The same ancient oriental rug and newly installed wood flooring. Yet the whole place seemed a bit washed out. As he took a step in, a figure materialized, particle by particle, slumped on the couch. His surviving brother.

“Riley?”

Riley wouldn't look at him. Maybe he hadn't noticed Jason. He was about to speak up when Riley's mouth began to move.

“Go home, Jason. Go home,” he seemed to say. Or maybe it was, “Come home, Jason. Come home.” It was too echoed and quiet to understand well. Something heavy fell on Jason.

All of a sudden a crushing weight was on top of his torso, tearing him out of his dreamy state. With the weight came a continuous shrill of his own name.

“Jasonjasonjasonjason!”

“Jesus fuck!” Jason shouted as he tried to tear away. It was a feeble effort; Vaas was, after all, a goddamn tank of a man, but nonetheless, Jason squirmed as hard as he could. His eyes had opened, but everything was still a blur of gray and darkness, only broken by a flickering light he presumed to be a hand lamp of some variety.

“Jason!” Vaas barked once more.

“Get the fuck off me!”

Right on command, Vaas hopped back up to his feet bouncing on his heels as he stood. “Jason, I got the best fucking news!”

“Did the news require you to jump on me?” Jason gritted, raising an eyebrow as he sat up. Glancing past Vaas, he observed that it was still dark out in the jungle.

“He's coming back!”

“What? Who?”

“Carlos!”

“That guy you keep talking about?”

“Yes! He radioed me and he's finished cleaning up the south island and he's coming home in the morning!”

“Cleaning up?”

“Yeah, you know, taking in some'a Hoyt's guys, shooting the rest.”

“Oh. Harsh.”

“Well, he tried to talk to them, but they're even more pissy than the Rakyat without Hoyt and we don't need no one taking Hoyt's spot, huh?”

“I guess not.”

“No, no, we really, really fucking don't. So- I got Carlos to stop that.”

Jason stared at Vaas, blinking through the sleep in his eyes as the gears in his head ground slowly. 

“You really like this guy,” Jason finally said.

“Fuck, yeah, he's my best friend, my boy, mi hermano número uno. He gets me. He's not really like me, not like you are, but he gets me.”

“Okay. So, what does this have to do with me?”

“Well, I want you to come with me to meet him, what the fuck else?”

“And why the hell would I want to meet him?”

“He's my friend. I want you to be friends, it'd be cool, we can watch movies and shit together.”

Jason squeezed his eyes shut and sighed. “Alright. Fine. When are we leaving?”

“Uh, couple hours now, shouldn't be too long.

“Why the hell couldn't you wake me up later then?!”

“'cause I wanted you to know! You should be fucking excited!”

“Are you done then? I wanna go back to bed.”

Vaas rolled his eyes and waved a hand at Jason. “Fine, whatever, you do your shit, I'm gonna go and tell my other guys.”

“Fucking hell...” Jason mumbled as he allowed his upper half to flop back down on the bed.

Vaas turned and headed out of the shack, whistling a tune so upbeat that it should have been outlawed. The door shut with a harsh slap followed by a slight whine as it came ajar.

Jason considered the door for a moment. He could just leave if he wanted to. Just go home. He glanced at the calendar that had been hung over his bed with a thumb tack. It was November 22. Vaas had given him the date with the calendar. Of all the few things Vaas had given him so far, that sense of time had to be his most appreciated. He now knew that it had been about five months since he and his friends had first been captured. It felt like it couldn't be any more than a few weeks, but no, five goddamn months. How much life had he missed at home? Was his mom okay? Did his family even think of him anymore? They probably all thought he was dead. Maybe that was for the best, but he still couldn't help but consider trying to leave. It wouldn't be hard to leave. He could just walk out the door and straight through the rainforest until it stopped. But then after that he would have to go through Vaas' men or the Rakyat. And then he would have to cross an ocean. And then he would have to readjust to civilized life and God knows if he could even do that anymore. The lack of motion in everyday life had bothered him before Rook, how could he handle it after getting used to constantly moving and running and jumping and maneuvering? Hell, he could _kill_ someone if they set him off. He had killed so many people, what would stop him from continuing in the civilized world? He gritted his teeth and squinted, trying to block that train of thought.

It didn't work.

Vaas was right. He couldn't live among them anymore. He couldn't bear to just buy his food, food laced with artificial substances and sugars. He couldn't not hunt. He couldn't not run. He couldn't be normal again, not like he would have to be. Home was everything that Rook wasn't and Jason couldn't live like that, even if he tried, even if he wanted to try. And he didn't want to try. He wanted to stay here, with or without Citra, even with Vaas looming over his shoulder. Fuck.

“Fuck,” Jason repeated out loud. “Fucking fuck fuckity fucking shit piss cunt motherfucker cocksucking...”

He turned onto his front, squeezing his eyes shut and smothering his face against the pillow. His stupid mind wouldn't shut off now, but he tried to make it stop. Make it stop reminding him of home and how he couldn't go back there. Jason just wanted to go back to sleep. Why did Vaas have to wake him up? Why did he have to make so much sense and yet none at all?

All of a sudden, Jason was sobbing, sobbing for the second time since he had been with Vaas, since he had been on the island, in fact. Now he wasn't just mourning his brother's loss, though, he was mourning the loss of his home. At least maybe he could go to sleep once he had cried himself out. At least Vaas wasn't-

As he wept, he heard the door open again followed immediately by Vaas' voice.

“Yo, Jason, do you wan-?”

Jason could have cried. Well, cried harder.

“Aw, Jason,” Vaas said, stepping over to him. “You're a fucking mess, you know that?”

“Frk urf,” Jason mumbled against the pillow.

He felt Vaas sit on the bed against him, followed by a hand pushing his shirt up. Normally, Jason would have tried to see what Vaas was doing, but he really did not want to show his face right now. Vaas could have been preparing to literally stab Jason in the back and he wouldn't have looked. But that didn't happen. What did happen was that Vaas put a flat palm against Jason's back and started to rub it in slow circles. Vaas' hands were callused, a few of his fingers bandaged, and his movements felt somewhat awkward and uneven, probably because Vaas hadn't done this often if ever before just then. Nonetheless, it felt nice, comforting even, to be given a back rub right then. His sobs eased with the sensation. Vaas had comforted him once before and here he was doing it again. Jason was about to spite him for it when Vaas decided to disarm him completely.

“It's okay, Jason,” he said. “I'm a fucking mess too, you know.”

His words were garnished with a small laugh. It was like Vaas' usual short, breathy laughs, but Jason could pick out something new in it: pain. Concentrated pain, packed tight into that tiny sound as though it had no other way to come out. Kind of like what he was feeling right then. Fucking hell, when would Vaas learn that Jason hated it when he made himself relatable?

“I'm- I'm sorry,” Jason managed, tipping his head to the side so he could talk more clearly. “About your parents. Your sister.”

The hand on his back paused where it was. Vaas squinted one eye at Jason, mouth slightly ajar. Some mix of curiosity and surprise and wonder read upon his face. The expression collapsed as soon as it came, though, replaced by a smile that didn't seem at all happy or malicious or smug. It was a dry yet appreciative smile. Accompanying it was three of Vaas' finger stroking one spot on Jason's back very gently, like the skin might shatter if they touched any harder.

“Yeah. Shit happens, you get used to it,” Vaas said with a few minute nods.

“Yeah. But still, fuck you.” Despite his sharp words, Jason tone lacked the venom he had once used with Vaas.

“That's my blanquito,” Vaas said, his smile perking into fondness all at once.

In his sleepy, cried-out state, Jason realized something: hating Vaas had become a difficult thing. The effort he put in to hating Vaas was becoming increasingly disproportionate to the satisfaction he took from doing so. And what was the point of doing something if it wasn't at least satisfying? Jason relaxed as Vaas begin to rub properly once more. He didn't have to like Vaas, but maybe he didn't really need to outright hate him anymore either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was meant to be just a brief preface to the next chapter, but then it grew a whole branch that I didn't mean for it to, so I figured I'd put it up on its own. And yes, we're going to bring in Carlos next chapter.
> 
> Fun thing, the dream sequence originally involved Jason talking to a sock. I don't know why I thought this was a good idea, but it helped me get going so there's that.


	12. Old and New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a pain in the ass. I wanted to really characterize and bring Carlos to life properly and, well, he didn't come easy, but I tried. Hopefully it's alright.

“Carlos!”

Vaas shot forward from the dock's base and enveloped Carlos in an overenthusiastic bear hug as soon as his friend hit the dock.

Jason was hanging back closer to the beach, looking on with wonder. He knew Vaas was friendly with some of his men, but not that friendly. It probably shouldn't have been a surprise considering how excited Vaas had been the prior night. Jason had never really had a picture of Vaas being really, truly happy to see someone until very recently. It was the weirdest thing.

He was still tired thanks to Vaas' rude awakening earlier. Sleep hadn't quite been able to find him afterward, Jason had merely dozed for the two or three hours until the sun came up, and by then Vaas was insisting they leave. The car ride had been less nerve wracking than Jason's last as he and Vaas had ridden in the back of a cargo truck while one of Vaas' more road inclined minions drove. Jason may have drifted off during the ride and might not have had any geographical idea of where they stopped. They were at a base with a dock on the island's south end, Jason could discern that much. Maybe that was all that was important. He couldn't exactly triangulate and figure out an escape route without a map anyway.

“Hola, Vaas. Supongo que nada ha cambiado,” Carlos said with some strain in his voice. Nonetheless, he was smiling and returning the hug with equal enthusiasm even being lifted off the ground.

They were exchanging pleasantries, Jason theorized. Of course, it was all in Spanish so that Jason couldn't hope to understand, but the emotions were clear enough: Vaas and Carlos shared a kinship and were comfortable enough to show it off openly. Vaas only let go of Carlos once the smaller man started to struggle, repeating something that sounded like “basta, basta.” “Down, down,” maybe?

“Fine, fine,” Vaas said, turning back to gesture at Jason. “You gotta meet Jason, you remember what I said about Jason?”

Now that he had a clearer view, Jason could see that Carlos was definitely shorter than Vaas by an inch or two. He was reasonably muscular, but standing next to Vaas himself, Carlos appeared scrawny, even more so than Jason. He had dark brown eyes that bored into Jason's without a hint of hesitation, like a challenge. Or maybe just an evaluation. Whatever was going behind those eyes, Carlos had no doubts about it. It was off-putting to say the least, like the first time Jason had looked at Vaas, but somehow worse. Meeting Vaas' eye then had been unsettling and uncomfortable when he had had the upper hand, but meeting Carlos' now felt like staring into an abyss. An abyss that might take Jason's soul if he didn't hang onto it.

“Hello, Jason,” Carlos said, stepping towards him. “I've heard good and bad things about you.”

Jason was taken aback by Carlos' accent or, more aptly, his lack thereof. Though Jason guessed that he wasn't, Carlos suddenly sounded very much like a native English speaker. An American native English speaker at that.

“Er, hi to you too.”

“Vaas tells me you've agreed to stay with us.”

“Well, I wouldn't call it “agreeing” exactly. Maybe not until a while back.”

Carlos tilted his head to the side, rolling his eyes. “A rose by any other name.”

Shakespeare? Of all the things Jason had never expected to come out of the mouth of one of Vaas' men.

“Uh. Yeah.”

“Has Vaas been behaving himself?” Carlos asked, eyes gravitating towards his leader.

“Define “behaving.””

“Well, he hasn't been setting anything on fire in fits of rage lately, has he?”

“Fucking hell, Carlos, it was one time,” Vaas groaned, putting his hands over his face.

“He burned one of our very own bases down a year back,” Carlos explained, regarding Jason, but keeping his eyes on Vaas.

“It wasn't even my fucking fault, I told you!”

“Yeah, boss, you told me, but that doesn't mean it's true.”

“You take all the other shit I say as God's fucking word,” Vaas countered.

Carlos shrugged and dipped his head. “You're the boss, Vaas.”

“'course I am, we'd all be fucking lost without me.”

Vaas caught the perturbed stare Jason was giving the both of them then and immediately relaxed his expression.

“Hey, Carlos, you mind driving Jason back towards the base?” Vaas asked, gesturing to the car sitting at the side of the road not far from the dock.

“Anything to help,” Carlos said without missing a beat.

“You know, I bet I could walk back, just find my way,” Jason interjected, holding up a flat palm. “Or just stay here until you're finished. I mean, we only just got here.”

Vaas' dull smile perked into a grin, complimented by a short chuckle.

“Don't be shy, Jason, he doesn't fucking bite. I don't think he bites,” Vaas looked to Carlos, grin breaking into an inquisitive squint. “You bite, Carlos?”

“Not unless you ask me to.”

“He won't bite you.” Vaas said, face relaxing once more as he patted Carlos' shoulder. “So, uh, vas, get the fuck outta here.”

Jason hesitated. He could insist that he stay which would no doubt meet more push-back from Vaas. And, really, he was between a rock and a hard place. Vaas or his creepy minion, which was it gonna be?

Jason sighed and headed back towards the car, followed by Carlos. He opened up the passenger door and got in first, crossing his arms as he waited for Carlos to get in and sit down as well If he had to compare the experience to anything, it felt very much like the time when he was fifteen and being escorted home by a merciful police officer. Only there was no graffiti involved and he had no idea how merciful Carlos truly was.

It didn't take more than a few seconds for Carlos to start the car and turn onto the road once he was in. Never once did he look directly at Jason and Jason made an effort to reciprocate, hoping the ride would be over faster than it had been coming to the dock. His lizard brain, however, seemed to be having different ideas as within ten or so minutes, his gaze had drifted to the right so he could observe Carlos. Looking at his facial profile then, Jason was surprised to find it wrinkled and weathered more than any pirate he had ever seen. If he had to hazard a guess, Jason would have put Carlos in his late 40s. Not exactly an age Jason had presumed pirates lived to. In addition to that, there were some distinct silver and bronze medals pinned to the the front of Carlos' vest. Some kind of military decoration, Jason figured. He didn't really want to talk with Carlos, didn't think that would turn out well, but, really, had that ever stopped him from doing anything before?

“So, how long have you been around here?” Jason asked, staring pointedly out his window.

“As long as Hoyt's been recruiting guys from South America,” Carlos said.

“You from there?”

“Yeah, Chile.”

Chee-lay. There was his accent.

“You don't really sound, well, Spanish.”

“I've spoken English for a very long time, Jason, since I was a kid,” Carlos explained. “My family was affluent, I was given a good education, knowledge of many things, all the opportunity in the world. I didn't know what to do with it all.”

“So, you went into the military?”

“You're observant,” Carlos commented, though, Jason couldn't tell if he was impressed or wary. “Yes, I did. Ten years with the army.”

“What made you leave then?”

“I got tired of it.”

“Couldn't you have just left then? Why go with pirates?”

“I was of some value to my superiors. And even if I wasn't, I wouldn't have been allowed to “just leave.””

“Value? How?”

“Tactical. Political.”

“What's that mean?”

“I facilitated the killing of people who opposed the ruling faction. Is that clear enough?”

“The ruling faction?”

“Chile was not the place it is now when I left.”

Jason wracked his brain trying to remember anything about Chile from his history classes. He had done well enough in school, he should have remembered at least a little.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, you must have been in the military when- when- I know there was some kind of dictator, sometime.”

“Pinochet,” Carlos said, his grip on the wheel tightening. “Our commander-in-chief. It was a different time. Harder for most than it was for me.”

“You regret it?”

“No,” Carlos said, glancing at Jason's face.

“Really?” Jason asked, at once confused, yet equally convinced by the certainty in Carlos' voice.

“I have a place in this world. It's not heroic, it's certainly not glamorous, it's not even exciting more often than not. But everyone needs a place.”

“What place? Being Vaas' second?”

“Helping evil people do their wicked work. It's what God created me for.”

“God? What?” Jason sat there contemplating what Carlos had said, barely able to believe his ears.

“Some people are created evil. And some people are created to aid those people in their evil. I'm one of those people, one of Lucifer's minions incarnate. It's where God has placed me in his plan time and time again. I've resigned myself to that fact.”

Jason blinked. A feeling similar to what he had experienced when he had first met Vaas coursed through him. Fear and uncertainty and disbelief that someone so horrifying could exist. He suddenly wanted to be very far away from this deranged psychopath. But, no, he could handle himself now, he didn't need to be afraid of Carlos like he'd once been afraid of Vaas. He and Carlos were on an equal plain here, Jason reminded himself.

“Okay,” Jason croaked. “So, uh, in that case, what do you do for Vaas exactly?”

“I created the framework for how we train our men. I organize tactical strikes on our enemies. I prevent bad decisions. Whatever Vaas cannot or cannot afford to do himself.”

“Oh. So, you're the brain of the operation then.”

“In some ways.”

“Why aren't you in charge then? You had to have been here before Vaas.” 

“Vaas is a king, Jason, I'm only his general,” Carlos told him. “Before Vaas came to us, we weren't organized.”

“You're kidding, you were even less organized?”

“I don't kid. We all were paid a meager salary by Hoyt, but most of the men operated in leaderless mobs. So long as we killed natives, Hoyt didn't care. We didn't even grow drugs then; it just wasn't our job.”

“You were attack dogs,”

“Yes, that's right. Vaas changed that. He made us- a family, I guess. The biggest, most fucked up family I've ever seen. But there's respect now. Order.”

“Order,” Jason echoed. “Right.”

Jason looked away from Carlos, leaning against the car door. What the hell else had no one told him?

“Do you want to know more about Vaas?” Carlos asked, a shrug in his voice.

“I guess. Might as well, seeing as I'm living with him.

Carlos was silent for a moment, staring at the road ahead.

“He's twenty-seven, about the same age as you.”

“Uh huh.”

“His parents were from Peru, most likely. Came here looking for an out from civilization, perhaps governmental instability as well. Hippie kinda people, from what Vaas has told me. They claimed to have crossed the Pacific by boat, but I don't know about that.”

“Uh. Okay.”

“Vaas is fluent in Malay, though, he prefers not to speak it.”

“Because of what happened with his sister, right?”

“Yes,” Carlos said. “He wasn't stable when he came to us.”

“And he still isn't,” Jason pointed out.

“Yes, but he's in a better state than he was. He was quite depressive when he first came to us. Angry. Wept a lot, lashed out.”

“Can't really see Vaas crying much,”

“He doesn't anymore.”

“He did once.”

Carlos turned his head towards Jason, raising his brow. “Vaas wept?”

“Well, it was more like he teared up a littl after I called him out, but-”

“He can't cry, Jason,” Carlos cut in, tone more stilted than usual.

“What are you talking about? Of course he can cry.”

“No, he cannot cry,” Carlos continued to insist. “He cannot be put in that state. He won't function the way we need him to.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Vaas is a presence. He keeps the men together by residing over him. He can't show weakness or everything will fall apart.”

“It's not like he was crying in public.”

“One thing will lead to another.”

“Hasn't yet,” Jason retorted.

“But it will!” Carlos snapped back.

“You don't know that!”

“I know more than you, Jason, more than you ever will about Vaas,” Carlos hissed. “I warn you now, I will protect him and our men from any threats to our way of life.”

“I don't care if God himself created you evil or not, Carlos, your way of life is shit and I'm going to stop it if I can.”

The car screeched to a sudden halt as Carlos clenched his hands around the wheel so hard that Jason feared he might tear chunks out of it. His eyes were squeezed shut and his teeth were clenched, like he was trying to keep from flying into a rage.

Just as Jason was about to flee the car, Carlos looked up and took a deep breath. He relaxed and started down the road once more.

"I don't expect you to understand," he murmured. “We'll see where your actions take you, Jason.”

“Sure. _My_ actions,” Jason said, hoping that the conversation would just end already.

Fortunately, Carlos seemed just as done as Jason, staring forward with his lips pursed tight. Thus left Jason to consider what he'd said. Had he just made a promise the pirates drug dealing, ravaging way of life? Why did he feel the need to say that at all? Why couldn't he have just stopped the conversation when he'd had the opportunity? Goddamn himself and his own stupid decisions.

Exhausted and exasperated, Jason leaned against the car's window and shut his eyes. It was going to be a long drive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'm really sorry about this taking so long. Honestly, I could probably use a Far Cry buddy or something to help me bounce ideas around more consistently. I don't actually have anyone who's played Far Cry 3 fully to discuss the story with at this point. Whatever happens, hopefully you all won't have to wait as long for the next chapter as you did for this one.
> 
> If there are any grammatical or consistency issues or if there are just chunks randomly missing from the story, I'd appreciate them being pointed out, sometimes I miss them.


	13. Exercise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry about the delay in writing this. And, I admit, it was probably needless. I got more work on this done in the last week than I have in four months. You can thank SocialDeception for that. She writes this kind of stuff too, and you should read it, if, y'know, you want to.

Jason lay on his cot, glaring at his puzzle box. Stupid thing was down two pieces, but the third was proving impossible. He knew he could get it another out, two of the remaining piece jutted out, practically begging him to try and pull one free. But every time Jason tried, another piece clung to its brother and refused to let go. Jason had all but given up. Why had he even bothered in the first place? It's not like taking apart the box was going to get him anywhere. Sleeping would be a better use of his time.

Just as he pressed his face into his pillow, the door flew open.

“Jaso-on,” Vaas warbled at him.

Jason grunted and scrunched up his face. Why did Vaas have to have such awful timing?

“Jaso-on.”

A finger prodded at the back of his head.

“It's, like, not even noon, you shouldn't be napping,”

“What do you want?” Jason groaned, rearranging himself so he could sit up and face Vaas.

“I need some help, that’s what I want.”

Vaas shoved his camcorder at Jason. It was the second time he'd seen the thing and it was no more pleasant than the first time. He didn’t accept it, even as Vaas held it there.

“Yeah? What with?”

“Workout.”

“Don't you get enough of a work out just, y'know, being a pirate?”

“Well, yeah,” Vaas said, a little too quickly. “Duh. But this is more kinda a fun thing.”

“Fun. Right. So, what, you want me to spot for you or something?”

“What's in your hands, dumbass?” Vaas laughed. “No. Need you to film me doing what I do.”

“Couldn't you just set up a camera on a tripod or something?”

“No, I need you filming this. I don't trust it to just sit there and get it right. If it was some stupid bullshit, fine, but no, not this,” he explained, tapping Jason’s chest with the device. “I mean, usually, I'd get Carlos to hold my camera, that's what I thought I was gonna do today, but you know, Carlos has shit to do, so I was like “Hey, why not ask Jason? He likes taking pictures and shit.””

“Maybe-” Jason started, crossing his arms. “-because Jason doesn't feel like filming you exercising.”

“Come on, what the fuck are you worried about?” Vaas pleaded, “You'd go into town with me. We can have fun together.”

“Why do you want it filmed anyway? If it's a workout, what's it matter to you?”

“It's- for me, you know? To look at and shit. See what I fucked up.”

“What kind of a workout is this?”

“Pole dancing,” Vaas chirped.

“Pole dancing,” Jason repeated.

“Do I have a fucking echo now? Yes, pole dancing.”

Of all the hobbies for Vaas to have. And of all the things for him to ask of Jason. Somehow, he wasn't surprised. Yet he was intrigued. The kind of fascination that came with witnessing a car crash in motion. It was horrible, but how could you not look?

“Fine,” Jason said, taking the camcorder at last. “I guess I can do that for you.”

Vaas' eyes lit up. “Fuck yeah! Thank you, Jason, I'll buy you a beer while we're there, promise.”

“If you gotta,” he grumbled, getting to his feet.

“Jason, I am not a bitch to you,” Vaas said, turning to exit the shack. “Don't be a bitch to me.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Jason said before following him out.

*****

“You're sure the boombox is absolutely necessary?” Jason asked. He could just barely see oncoming terrain with a bulky stereo plus the camcorder stacked on top of it.

“I can't just fucking dance with no music,” Vaas said. “I mean, I'm pretty fucking good, but I don't do miracles.”

“We could have at least taken a car.”

“It's not that far. And, you know, you could use the exercise. You aren't getting out so much.”

“Only because there’s a goddamn rainforest between me and the rest of the jungle.”

“You're still inked up, blanquito, you could figure out how to get around.”

“Maybe I will.”

It wasn't an idea Jason was confident in. Even if the forest floor was mostly open, even if one brought a lantern into its impenetrable darkness, it was still difficult to navigate. He was as likely to turn himself around and end up back at the pirate camp as he was to find the way out. Jason had no idea how the pirates managed it so regularly.

“Here it is!” Vaas called as they exited tree cover and approached a pair of dividers 

Sure enough, Jason could make out several roofs through the rolling hills and trees, It was exactly as shitty as Jason remembered it. Why had he agreed to come again?

Vaas led him down the path into town. He grumbled at having to sidle through the town’s makeshift barriers thanks to his cargo, complaints which Vaas entirely ignored. In fact, Vaas didn’t even bother to wait for him. He was already halfway down the trail by the time Jason was through.

Though he wanted to call after Vaas, Jason didn’t want to be needled at for it. So he merely sighed and continued on his own. The lack of Vaas was a nice change of pace and, as such, he made sure not to walk too quickly. 

When Jason spotted him again, Vaas was stood outside the local whorehouse talking to some woman. As he approached, Jason gave an indignant snort, which didn’t get him more than a passing glance from Vaas. He simply continued his conversation unabated. Jason didn’t understand a word of what was being said, though, it didn’t sound like the Spanish he had gotten used to. Maybe it was Malay like Carlos had mentioned. From the occasional snicker, Jason couldn’t help but think that he might be being made fun of.

Jason waited, shifting his weight from foot to foot. And waited. And waited. Maybe it was just because Jason had a heavy load, but Vaas seemed to be lingering for much longer than someone with somewhere to be should.

“Didn’t you want to do a workout?” Jason asked.

“Oh, so-orry for stopping to chat with a friend,” Vaas droned, shaking his head. “So fucking needy, Jason.”

Nonetheless, he said what must have been a good-bye to the woman and continued down the road.  
It wasn’t long before Vaas stopped in front of one of the many crude, rectangular structures. Jason noted the inclusion of a proper door, a bit of a rarity for the island. Vaas proceeded to open it wide and step out of the way for Jason, giving a playful wave of his hand and a smirk.

Jason might have rolled his eyes, but he was more intent on getting rid of his extra weight. He stepped in, and right away found the nearest table, placing the stereo and camcorder down upon it. 

“Oh, God,” he mumbled, stretching his sore arms out and looking around the room.

The place reminded him of the town’s bar, but most of what would have been sitting space was taken up by a stage with two metal poles installed on it. It was no more or less run down than most other shacks on the island, no more basic, no more in need of attention. More striking, however, was the total lack of patrons and workers. Jason felt a little seedy being there alone with Vaas.

“You rented a whole strip joint just for a workout?” he asked

“Kinda. Me and the guy who runs the place have a deal. Been doing this shit for a long time now, you know.”

Vaas peeled off his tank top and tossed it over a table. He then began to stretch in what must have been routine. Jason’s eyes, by no fault of his own, were immediately drawn to his form. He’d seen Vaas shirtless, naked even, before, but he hadn’t had much more on his mind beyond anger then. Here, though, he was beginning to see past that, and by God, Vaas was perfect. His torso was solid and trim all around, covered by a layer of fine, black hair. His musculature was defined, but not defined like the many religious gym-goers Jason had seen back home. It reminded him more of how Grant had looked when he’d first come home from military training. Effort was put into it, but it was a natural effort. Growing up on a jungle island would be conducive to that kind of body, Jason figured.

Tearing his gaze away, Jason took the camcorder off of the stereo before unravelling the latter’s power cord.

“Uh, where do I plug it in?” he asked.

“Huh?” Vaas said, looking up from unlacing his boots. “Oh, yeah, there's a, uh, extension thing behind the counter somewhere.”

“An extension cord?”

“Yes!” Vaas exclaimed, pointing Jason’s way. “That's the word.”

Jason stepped over to the counter and poked his head behind it to look. Sure enough, an orange cord was strewn across the floor. He leaned down and picked it up.

“You know the hookers around here?” Jason asked as he dragged the cable out.

“Yeah, we done weed together before, me and some’a them when I’m around.”

“You ever, uh…?” Jason trailed off, raising an eyebrow at Vaas while plugging the stereo in.

“Nononono, hermano, no, bad idea,” Vaas said, giving an emphatic shake of the head. “Everybody got AIDS and shit around here. My boys got enough of that bullshit, I don’t want none.”

“Not even once?”

“Nunca en mi vida. I got bigger things on my mind,” he said, giving Jason a wink.

“Uh huh.”

Jason deliberately picked up the camcorder than to avoid Vaas’ gaze. He flipped out video display, skimming over for any physical switches. It was your basic digital setup, not ancient, but older than what Jason was used to. Jason could work with it and that was what was important.

“So, you about ready?” he asked.

“Guess I gotta be.” Vaas stepped up onto the stage and approached one of the poles. “Don’t want to waste your precious time, huh?”

“You got something in the box already?” Jason asked, aiming the camera towards Vaas with one hand. 

“Yeah, yeah, play it, go to track two.”

Jason reached over and pressed the play and forward buttons in rapid succession. 

The music started out with a slow, heavily synthesized intro. Vaas had begun to move, though, he was only stalking around the pole, staring forward with a focus that Jason had seldom seen in his eyes. And once the beat kicked in, thick with bass, Vaas was in constant motion. A whirl here, a slide there, never any real breaks in between. He slowed and sped up all timed impeccably well with the song. It was a practiced drill, Jason could tell that much. He wasn’t the most graceful, but he was flexible enough and he hauled himself in the air with stunning ease.

It was a captivating thing, seeing Vaas’ body truly work. Jason had seen him move, casually or out of emotion, but never had he seen Vaas push himself. He had his legs wrapped around the pole more often than not and his torso rippled with effort to keep himself upright and off of the ground. Jason couldn’t have done the same, not a chance. He was agile, flexible, quick, but he didn’t have that kind of strength. Even without a gun or a knife or anything, Vaas could have done some real damage in any other context, Jason realized.

He had to admit, there was something alluring about Vaas as he danced. Something sensual yet also dangerous. Vaas could have beaten him into the ground if he wanted to, and yet he was here dancing and bending and moving for Jason. It was more than a little enticing, really. 

As he went on dancing, Vaas would briefly break from the physically demanding movements and simply grind against the pole. The actions remained timed, but they seemed more off the cuff. Jason had known from the moment Vaas had asked him to film this workout that it wasn’t going to turn out normally, but he’d really hoped it wouldn’t be another effort at seduction by Vaas. More than that, he’d hoped it wouldn’t be working.

Jason decided to sit down after a moment as he felt himself grow more and more affected by the performance. Vaas was performing for him, after all. He kept giving Jason these looks, these little inviting smiles. For how much Vaas was moving and writhing on the stage, Jason felt like his skin was squirming more than anything else in the room. He wanted to think it was out of discomfort, but the blood rushing downward seemed determined to prove him wrong.

Vaas’ cargoes were riding low on his hips, though, Jason didn’t know exactly when they’d started to do so. On top of that, Jason wasn’t seeing any underwear poking out beneath. Jason had not needed to know that Vaas went commando. For all Jason knew, Vaas never wore underwear. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the most necessary thing for living rough on an island, but- well, Vaas had never had any regard for decency, had he? Jason pressed his legs together and tried to focus on filming.

As the song ended Vaas broke away from the pole and hopped off of the stage. He strode over to Jason, grinning at him like a cat with a canary. His breathing was heavier and he’d worked up a sweat, but he looked much calmer than Jason felt. He glanced down towards Jason’s crotch, but Jason was frozen to the spot; he hadn’t even put down the camera. Hiding himself wouldn’t have helped anyway.

“You're worked up, blanquito,” Vaas said, taking the device out of his hand and placing it on the table. “You want some help?” 

Jason wrinkled his nose at the suggestion, staring up at Vaas.

“Not like last time,” Vaas assured him. “I wanna help you, but you don’t gotta help me right now. Just my hand and my mouth. Okay?”

It wasn’t like he wanted Vaas to touch him. He didn’t really, not with everything Vaas had put him through. His boner, however, wasn’t going to go away on its own, and Vaas wasn’t about to leave him alone to deal with it. And who was he to turn down a blowjob?

“Fine, fine, do what you want.”

Vaas leaned down over Jason and palmed over the fabric concealing his erection. The goddamn smirk on his face hadn’t ever left and he was gazing right towards Jason’s eyes. Jason had to turn his head away.

“Come on, Jason, don’t be shy now,” Vaas cooed.

Jason heard him shift down onto his knees and begin to undo the zipper on his pants. His breath hitched as Vaas reached a warm hand into his briefs and pulled him out with a whistle.

“Someone’s excited.”

With Vaas’ face at a safe distance and his breath all over Jason’s loins, Jason dared to look down at him. Vaas wasn’t doing too much thus far.

Vaas paused briefly to gaze up at him. Staring with those stupid, crazy, blue eyes. And then he stuck his tongue out and gave a long lick up Jason’s penis. All with their eyes locked. Jason was gonna die, but at least he might die having an orgasm.

Vaas looked away once more and finally put his mouth over the head of Jason’s cock, sucking lightly.

“Fuck,” Jason breathed, allowing his mouth to hang open.

Just the shallow pulling sensation could have set him off if prolonged for too long. He’d been uncertain about this whole encounter, unwilling at points, but right then he wanted all the stimulation he could get. At least, without having Vaas put anything up his ass.

The lips around him pulled off suddenly, drawing a dissatisfied grunt from Jason. Vaas brought a hand up to run his thumb over the tip of Jason’s dick, catching a drop of precum.

“Look at you, pretty boy,” Vaas said, licking his upper lip. “So fucking happy.”

“Maybe you are,” Jason grumbled. He wanted to touch himself, but equally he didn’t want to his hand near Vaas’.

“Mm, you seem pretty happy from here.” Vaas gave Jason’s cock a short kiss, not nearly enough to provide any meaningful friction.

“Would you get on with it?” Jason demanded, gripping the side of the chair.

“I’m sorry, do you have a fucking problem with taking our time?” Vaas asked, raising an indignant eyebrow at him. “Don’t you want you enjoy this all the way, Jason? Don’t they teach you to be patient in California?”

“I’d enjoy it more if you’d keep sucking me off already,” Jason said, a little more whiny than he would have liked. He knew what Vaas wanted and he didn’t want to give in, but then, he wanted a blowjob more than anything. “Your- your, uh, mouth is really nice. Please?”

Vaas gave a laugh, but he nodded.

“How can I say no when you ask so nice?”

Without further ado, Vaas put his mouth over Jason and swallowed him down as deep as he could.

Jason couldn’t keep in his moans anymore. Anyone nearby could have probably heard, but goddamn, he did not care. The heat and moisture of Vaas’ mouth were excellent, but nothing could beat the simple suction. That’s how blowjobs had always been for Jason, really, but Vaas’ was perhaps the most enthusiastic he’d ever received. No doubt about it, he wanted Jason’s cock in his mouth and would keep it there as long as he could manage.

Vaas swallowed around him here and there, and gave the occasional hum. It was a tease when it happened, but there wasn’t any denying that he was being pushed further and further towards the edge at an exponential rate. No way was Jason going to keep it together much longer. Better warn Vaas.

“I’m gonna come,” he said through his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut.

Vaas, however, didn’t seem to have any intention of pulling off. In fact, he only sucked harder at the warning. Perverted freak. Better to give him what he wanted, not like Jason could avoid it anyway.

Reaching out to grip one of Vaas’ shoulders, Jason bucked his hips and groaned as his climax finally hit in a blissful wave. He panted and felt his hand clamp down on Vaas’ shoulder. Doing so didn’t deter Vaas in the least. He keep his mouth firmly on Jason through his orgasm. How Vaas tolerated it, Jason didn’t know, but he couldn’t say he didn’t appreciate it deep in his lizard brain.

Only when the last drops of cum were finally spilled did Vaas pull off. Jason heard him gulp and, in his post-orgasm haze, took a moment to figure out exactly what Vaas had just done.

“Ew,” Jason said, wrinkling his nose. “You always do that?”

“Don’t want it on the floor,” Vaas said, rolling his eyes. “And I don’t suck much cock, hermano.”

“You would say that,” he quipped, leaning back in the chair.

Vaas was considerate enough to tuck his dick back into his briefs before he stood up at least. He made no move to leave, however, only stepped back to lean up against the stage and stare at Jason.

It hadn’t occurred to Jason, but this particular interaction seemed a little inconsistent now that it was over. He very clearly remember Vaas hating the slightest suggestion of not being on top. Remembered being slapped over it. And Vaas had invited questions before. He squinted up at Vaas.

“So, you're okay with sucking my dick, but it pisses you off when I talk about you getting it up the ass?”

Vaas' smile morphed into a scowl in the space of a second.

“Back the fuck off, Jason, I don’t want to talk about that.”

“I’ve backed off plenty. You told me I could ask questions and you'd answer. So I ask: what's your problem?”

“It's a stupid fucking story,” Vaas said, clenching his fists and avoiding Jason’s eyes.

“I guess we both have a lot of those,” Jason said, crossing his arms.

Vaas stepped away from the stage and started to pace back and forth in front of Jason.

It felt good, having Vaas under his thumb for once. Having power over him. So often Vaas would just brush him off and laugh, but when Jason found a pressure point was it ever so _sweet._

“That motherfucker Buck,” Vaas said after a long moment.

There was a name Jason hadn't heard in a long while.

“What about him?”

“Fuck him!” Vaas shrieked, whipping about to glare at Jason. “I fucking hated him. But I couldn't kill him. I almost killed him, Jason, before you ever got here.”

“What the hell did he do to you?”

“What the fuck do you think?!”

Vaas brought his arms close to his chest, scrunching up his face.  
“I don't talk about this, Jason,” he said, shaking his head “I don't tell my boys. I didn't tell Hoyt. Carlos knows, but we don't talk about it.”

“Talk about what?” Jason pushed.

“It was- Hoyt only just put me in charge when it happened,” Vaas began, staring at the floor. “I was so fucking stupid. Carlos was out working with my boys and Buck decides he wants to stop by on my island. I let him in, why the fuck not, I thought, he’s Hoyt’s guy, he won’t fuck with me. He brought some- some pills or some shit and we’re doing those and shooting up some stuff, laughing. Then my head starts spinning and next thing I know I’m on the ground and- and…”

“And?” Jason prompted.

“He fucking used me!” Vaas screamed. “Like a cheap fucking whore! Like a fucking woman!”

Vaas reached up to rub at his forehead, both his eyes and lips shut tight.

“I don’t remember. It’s all dark after that. Next thing I know I’m laying on the floor in my room. I got blood all over my thighs and it’s on the floor and it fucking stings and- I don't fucking like thinking about this, Jason.”

Jason didn’t know what to say. He wanted to express sympathy. It was an awful thing to go through, no doubt about that, but this was still Vaas. Merciless killer, psycho Vaas. So he let Vaas continue on his own.

“He was gone when I woke up, the little fucking bitch. Couldn’t go after him, wanted to, I so fucking wanted to, but I couldn’t with Hoyt. So I told my boys, whenever I could, don't talk to Buck, don't take anything he gives you, don't let him in the camps, 'cause he'll fuck you up. He fucked me up, Jason. Fucked me up even worse.”

Something hit Jason then. An elephant in the room that he’d somehow missed until then.

“You gave him Keith.”

“I'm sorry, Jason,” Vaas said, pressing hard on his head. “I'm so fucking sorry.”

“You gave him Keith and you knew, you sick bastard!

“You think that was my fucking idea?!” Vaas snapped, whipping his head over to glare at Jason. “You think I wanted to give anyone, fucking anything to Buck after what he did to me?!”

“You've done sick shit before, what the fuck's different about this?!”

“It's fucking Buck!”

Vaas was shaking. His posture suggested that he wanted to punch Jason, but at the same time, his face was scrunched like he was about to break down in tears.

“I hated that motherfucker, but he was fucking buddy-buddy with Hoyt! I talk to Hoyt about your friends one day, what's he tell me? “Hey, now that I got his brother, give one of the Jason kid's friends to Buck, that'll fuck with him!” and he laughs and I have to laugh!”

“You still made it happen,” Jason said, standing to step up to Vaas. “It's still your goddamn fault.”

“You think I don't fucking know that, Jason? You think I don't live with that? I live with a lot of shit.”

The statement shouldn’t have struck a chord with Jason. He’d never done something quite as heinous, but he had killed a lot of people and done terrible things in his time on Rook. It was something that ate at the back of his mind in idle moments. Something he tried not to think about. Was that what Vaas dealt with too?

“Yeah. Me too,” he said, taking a step back. 

“You don't gotta forgive me, Jason,” Vaas said, slumping into a nearby seat. “Just don't hate me. Fucking tired of that shit”

Did he hate Vaas still? Jason was angry once again, yeah, but enough to hate? The actions Vaas had taken were months in the past now, long-corrected, Buck dispatched and Keith home, hopefully getting help. What was the point of being angry anymore?

“Well,” Jason said, sitting back down. “I guess I can't really hate a guy who's that fast to suck my dick.”

“Yeah. That'd be kinda fucking stupid, huh?” Vaas deadpanned.

“Yeah. Even for me.”

Vaas snickered at that, and Jason couldn't help but to crack a smile.

“You-” he started, sitting up to point at Jason. “-are not fucking stupid, Jason. I talk a lot of shit, but you're a fuckton smarter than me, that's for sure.”

Jason give a modest tilt of his head, glancing sideways.

“Don’t give me that bullshit, you are,” Vaas insisted. “You’re smarter than anyone I ever met on this island and I’ve been here my whole fucking life. Smarter than my sister, the Rakyat, my boys, me. Maybe even smarter than Carlos.”

“Yet not smart enough to not come here in the first place.”

“Y’know, that’s not about being smart. That’s about being crazy. And you’re pretty crazy, hermano. Gotta be, living on this fucking island. You’re smart and you’re crazy, Jason. You went and killed Buck for me for fuck’s sake; that is insane. I like that about you. I like you,” he frowned before adding. “And thank you. Seriously.”

Jason wasn’t sure if he should have been flattered or insulted.

“Well, thanks. I guess.”

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, looking at each other. Vaas was smiling again and Jason reciprocated with a half-smile. It was kind of nice, being able to be with Vaas and not have to hear him chattering away. There was never much quiet on Rook, certainly not in Vaas’ company. Jason could have stayed there for an hour or ten. But, of course, Vaas decided to stand up right then.

“Come on, blanquito, I’m getting you a fucking beer like I promised.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a lot to swallow in this chapter, I thought. I did a lot of things that I've been meaning to do, some things that go all the way back to the initial two one-shots I that kicked this thing off. I hope it's not too ham-fisted, but I'm just glad I've been working on this again, really.
> 
> I've kinda restructured how I'm planning to write this whole story. I'm gonna split it into two "books," one covering Vaas and Jason getting together and the other, well, we'll get there. I don't want to give that away yet when it's still so early.
> 
> Odd little thing, in the course of conceiving and executing this chapter, I listened to a huge amount of 3OH!3 and Lady Gaga's older work. I may have accidentally gotten myself into trashy club music in that manner. 3OH!3's I Can Do Anything in particular was what I listened to through that pole dancing sequence, but really any trashy, shameless club music from 2012 and before will do.


	14. Building Bridges

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was meant to come earlier than it did, but since I'm a moron and I messed up my timeline, I'm putting it here for now. I'll probably do a lot of reworking on this fic once I finally have it done. Which I still intend to make sure happens. I'm so sorry, once again. I know I say that a lot, but it's true every time. I'm fixing my timeline and writing a chapter outline this time, I promise.

Watching Vaas’ men as they played swingball had become a regular activity for Jason. With not much else to do around the camp when Vaas wasn’t there, Jason didn’t have much of a choice. Better than laying around in he and Vaas’ cabin all day.

That day, it seemed to be a more casual game, but it was always hard to tell, what with how much the pirates got into the game. There was a trio idling nearby, all Hispanic, waiting for a turn on the court, and shouting every once in awhile at the players. Jason couldn’t tell what they might be saying, but it sure sounded enthusiastic. It reminded him a bit of a miniature football game. Intense players, intense fans. He wondered who was the favorite. Maybe it would be a good idea for him to become the favorite.

On that thought, Jason approached the three.

“I wanna play, what do I gotta do?” he asked, hoping they would understand. Learning Spanish would be useful, Jason noted.

The three stared at him for a moment before glancing about at each other. 

“You, uh, you gotta wait,” the one in the middle finally replied. “You can have the next game. With the winner. That's how we do it.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Jason didn’t move from his spot and the pirates stayed silent from then on. He tried to keep watching the game, but found himself stealing looks back at the group. Two of them turned away just as he looked, while the one sitting on the ground kept staring at him. It was more than a little bizarre to witness, though, it wasn’t the first time he’d seen them act like they were. The pirates were all so damn weird around him and, truth be told, Jason was a little tired of all the pussyfooting. It was time he made some friends.

“You got names?” he asked.

The two standing up practically jumped at being spoken to again.

“Yeah,” the middle one said quickly.

“And what are they?” Jason pushed, raising his brow.

Another long stretch of hesitation. The same two stared at each other for a moment before middleman spoke once more.

“Uh, this is Julio,” he said, nudging the guy next to him. “-that's Elijah-” He pointed to the guy sitting on the ground.

“Hi,” Elijah broke in, smiling up at Jason.

Finally, he pointed at himself. “I'm Tom.”

“Julio, Elijah, Tom,” Jason said, looking at each of them as he said their names. “Got it. I'm good with names, I can remember that.”

“Okay. Cool,” Julio said, though, whether or not he quite understood was uncertain.

“So you're supposed to get the ball wrapped around the pole before the other guy?” Jason continued.

“Yeah,” Tom confirmed, a little more confident. “And if the ball hits you and you flinch, you're done.”

“Okay, good to know.”

Jason allowed the silence to stretch on this time. He didn’t expect any of them to speak and he already had a plan for what to say next. So color him surprised that Tom did speak up within the next minute.

“Do you and Vaas fuck?” he asked.

Jason whipped around to gape at him. “Excuse me?”

Tom shifted uncomfortably on his feet and tilted his head back and forth. “Everyone says you do,” he mumbled.

“No!” Jason snapped. “No, we don't, and you can tell everyone that.”

“Sorry, man,” Tom said, hanging his head. “Just curious.”

“Do you always ask about who's fucking who?”

“If people are talking about it, why not?”

“It's- it's-”

Jason wanted to say it was rude, but then, he was still on a remote island talking with a group of ravaging pirates. Though, really, these three seemed downright docile. Maybe it was just his reputation and status, but he'd never seen the pirates so passive, pleasant even. They were rude, but then, Jason had hardly ever given a crap about common courtesy before the island. Not to mention that they undoubtedly found some kind of camaraderie among each other. It wouldn't have been hard to mistake them for a fraternity were it not for all the guns.

“It's fine, I guess,” he finally said. “But seriously, we're not fucking. At all.”

“I believe it,” Elijah said, nodding at him.

“Thank you,” Jason said, flicking his wrist at Elijah. “This guy gets it.”

“What you do then?” Julio chimed in.

Jason shrugged and let out a harsh breath. What did they really do?

“I dunno. We eat together. We talk. He bugs me until I do stuff with him.”

“Does he love you?” Elijah asked, staring up at him with wide eyes.

It was only then that Jason noticed exactly how young Elijah looked. Skinny and fresh-faced and bright-eyed. God, he had to be even younger than Jason was. Poor kid.

“I guess he might,” Jason said, trying not to look at him. “By this island’s definition. People who love you don’t keep you locked up where I come from.”

“You’re not locked up,” Tom told him, squinting at him like he was nuts.

“Sure feels that way, with a rainforest all around and you guys stalking me whenever I go out to hunt.”

“Boss just told us to keep you alive,” Tom told him. “He never said keep you in.”

“Well, gee, when you’re surrounded on one side by pirates and the other by pissed natives, that sure leaves me with lots of choices.”

All three of them stared at him then. The sarcasm seemed to be lost on them, though, none of them contested his statement.

“Ah, forget about it,” Jason said at last, shaking his head. “Doesn’t matter that much.”

“You’re a funny guy, Jason,” Tom said, cautiously smiling at him. “Never heard anyone talk like you.”

“Funny, huh?” Jason asked, returning the smile. “Not funny looking?”

Tom blinked at him, but his response came much quicker, “Maybe a little, yeah.”

“Qué significa eso?” Julio asked, squinting at Tom.

Tom leaned over to mumble something to Julio. It must have been pretty funny as Julio started giggling as he side-eyed Jason. Elijah joined in as well even having not heard what was said. Jason didn’t exactly know what was so funny, but he conjured up an uncomfortable laugh anyway. Laughing at jokes made at his expense had worked wonders for being accepted in the past. It might have been a small step in the right direction, but that was more than could be said for his past month or so of being among the pirates. Small steps were better than no steps at all. Even if that meant being made fun of in two different languages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware that this chapter is pretty short. Some of them will be, but the next chapter will be a lot longer and more fun.
> 
> As usual, I'm always open to corrections. If you see an error in consistency, grammar, spelling, anything really, don't be shy and let me know.


End file.
